Fabrication and Characterization of Si Substrate-Free InGaN Light-Emitting Diodes and Their Application in Visible Light Communications
Visible light communications with InGaN-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs) grown on large-diameter (6-inch) and cost-effective Si (111) substrates are investigated experimentally. During epitaxial growth, the transition layers consisted of the step-graded AlGaN buffers incorporated with three low-temperature-grown (∼900 °C) AlN interlayers on AlN/Si substrates that are used to compensate for thermally induced tensile stress and to maintain a reasonable crystalline quality of GaN-on-Si LEDs. Strong light absorption from Si can be prevented by fabricating a Si substrate-free InGaN LED with a composite metal coating of Al/Ag/Al multilayer, providing improved adhesive strength and reflectivity comparable to the unitary Ag film. In comparison with GaN-on-Si LEDs, stripping Si substrates combined with the use of a highly reflective bottom mirror (Al/Ag/Al multilayer) reflected a more intense emission pattern corresponding to a 2.2 times (@ 190 mA) increase in light output power in thin-film LEDs. In addition, a 1.8 times (@ 160 mA) increase in optical channel bandwidth is achieved by using thin-film LEDs as optical transmitters. A direct line-of-sight optical link using the proposed thin-film LEDs achieved data transmission rates of up to 100 Mb/s over a distance of 100 cm, indicating that the proposed LEDs have potential for use as optical transmitters in indoor visible light communications.
High-Efficiency and Crack-Free InGaN-Based LEDs on a 6-inch Si (111) Substrate With a Composite Buffer Layer Structure and Quaternary Superlattices Electron-Blocking Layers
In this paper, a composite buffer layer structure (CBLS) with multiple AlGaN layers and grading of Al composition/u-GaN1/(AlN/GaN) superlattices/u-GaN2 and InAlGaN/AlGaN quaternary superlattices electron-blocking layers (QSLs-EBLs) are introduced into the epitaxial growth of InGaN-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs) on 6-inch Si (111) substrates to suppress cracking and improve the crystalline quality and emission efficiency. The effect of CBLS and QSLs-EBL on the crystalline quality and emission efficiency of InGaN-based LEDs on Si substrates was studied in detail. Optical microscopic images revealed the absence of cracks and Ga melt-back etching. The atomic force microscopy images exhibited that the root-mean-square value of the surface morphology was only 0.82 nm. The full widths at half maxima of the (0002) and (101̅2) reflections in the double crystal X-ray rocking curve were ~330 and 450 respectively. The total threading dislocation density, revealed by transmission electron microscopy, was <; 6× 108 cm-2. From the material characterizations, described above, blue and white LEDs emitters were fabricated using the epiwafers of InGaN-based LEDs on 6-inch Si substrates. The blue LEDs emitter that comprised blue LEDs chip and clear lenses had an emission power of 490 mW at 350 mA, a wall-plug efficiency of 45% at 350 mA, and an efficiency droop of 80%. The white LEDs emitter that comprised blue LEDs chip and yellow phosphor had an emission efficiency of ~110 lm/W at 350 mA and an efficiency droop of 78%. These results imply that the use of a CBLS and QSLs-EBL was found to be very simple and effective in fabricating high-efficiency InGaN-based LEDs on Si for solid-state lighting applications.
Use of a specific antiserum for renin detection in human kidney.
The use of anti-human renin antibodies made possible the intrarenal localization of renin in human kidney by immunofluorescence. In normal kidney, only some juxtaglomerular apparatus (JGA) were fluorescent. In these JGA, granular or diffuse fluorescence was only seen in afferent arterioles and was not present in all cells. In the ischemic areas of partially infarcted kidney, fluorescence was seen in all JGA and in interlobular arteries. In these arteries the most eccentric cells were often the most positive. In the nonischemic areas of the same kidneys, fluorescence was not seen in JGA, but was observed in proximal tubular cells, suggesting the reabsorption of filtered renin at this site.