Fabrication and characterization of ultra-thin GaN-based LED freestanding membrane

In order to deliver the emergent light of Light Emitting Diode (LED) active layer easily, we studied the fabrication process, morphological characterization and optical characterization of submicron-level LED freestanding membrane. We prepared ultra-thin GaN-based LED freestanding membrane based on GaN-on-silicon wafer by using the backside process with photolithography, deep reactive ion etching and fast atom beam etching. Through a white light interferometer, we found that the deformation of the prepared ultra-thin LED freestanding membrane is positively correlated with the diameter of membrane, but negatively correlated with the thickness of membrane. The deformation as a whole is a smooth nanoscale arch deformation. Through the reflection spectrum test, we found that the number of reflection modes of LED freestanding membrane is much smaller than that of unprocessed silicon-based gallium nitride wafer and that the overall light intensity of reflection spectrum of the membrane is obviously improved. In the photoluminescence test, we found that due to the stress release, the emergent spectral peak of LED freestanding membrane has a blue shift of 8.2 nm compared with silicon-based gallium nitride wafer. Moreover, obvious outgoing light can be detected on the backside of the ultra-thin LED freestanding membrane with most of epitaxial layer removed. It demonstrates that LED freestanding membrane is more beneficial to deliver the emitted light in the photoluminescence test. In this study, the LED freestanding membrane with small thickness, large area, small deformation and excellent optical properties has been realized. It provides a new way for the application of GaN-based LED in the field of Micro-Optical Mechanic Electronic System (MOMES).