N-polar InGaN-based LEDs fabricated on sapphire via pulsed sputtering

High-quality N-polar GaN epitaxial films with an atomically flat surface were grown on sapphire (0001) via pulsed sputtering deposition, and their structural and electrical properties were investigated. The crystalline quality of N-polar GaN improves with increasing film thickness and the full width at half maximum values of the x-ray rocking curves for 0002 and 101¯2 diffraction were 313 and 394 arcsec, respectively, at the film thickness of 6μm. Repeatable p-type doping in N-polar GaN films was achieved using Mg dopant, and their hole concentration and mobility can be controlled in the range of 8 × 1016–2 × 1018 cm−3 and 2–9 cm2V−1s−1, respectively. The activation energy of Mg in N-polar GaN based on a temperature-dependent Hall measurement was estimated to be 161 meV, which is comparable to that of the Ga-polar GaN. Based on these results, we demonstrated the fabrication of N-polar InGaN-based light emitting diodes with the long wavelength up to 609 nm.