SBIR Phase II: Ultra Low Defect Gallium Nitride Mediated by Metal Alloys

这个小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第二阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力解决了一个途径，以实现氮化镓（GaN）基发光二极管（LED）每千流明不到1美元的指标。 据美国能源部称，这有望刺激固态照明的广泛采用，到2027年，这可能导致相当于44千兆瓦发电厂的电力节省。 LED的价格正在减缓采用。LED通常不需要更好;它们需要更便宜。这个小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第二阶段项目将解决氮化镓（GaN）基发光二极管（LED）的技术问题，即使用传统的缓冲层在非GaN衬底上生长GaN。 传统的方法通常是昂贵的并且导致晶体缺陷，因为所使用的缓冲材料是非延展性晶体结构，其非常有效地传播而不是消除缺陷。该项目开发了一种采用专利晶体金属和工艺制成的新基板，这将使制造商花费更少的时间和精力来获得与目前相同甚至更好的LED晶体质量。 使用低成本生长技术来减少GaN LED中的缺陷，并提高每千流明成本与性能指标的比例。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project addresses a path to achieve the metric of less than $1 per kilolumen in Gallium Nitride (GaN) based light emitting diodes (LEDs). This is expected to spur widespread adoption of solid state lighting which, according to the US Department of Energy, could result in electricity savings equal to the output of 44 gigawatt power plants by 2027. The price for LEDs is slowing adoption. LEDs don't typically need to be better; they need to be cheaper. This project could directly address this adoption problem by lowering the cost of making LEDs by eliminating one of the most expensive steps in the LED production process.This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will address the technical problems in Gallium Nitride (GaN) based light emitting diodes (LEDs), namely using traditional buffer layers to grow GaN on non-GaN substrates. Traditional approaches are typically expensive and result in crystalline defects because the buffer materials used are non-ductile crystalline structures which very effectively propagate, rather than annihilate, defects. This project develops a new substrate made with a patented crystalline metal and process that will let the manufacturers spend less time and effort to get the same or even better LED crystalline quality than they can achieve today. Low cost growth techniques are used and to reduce defects in GaN LEDs and to improve the dollar per kilolumen cost to performance metric.