CrayoNano Grows Epitaxial AlGaN Nanostructures on Graphene at Agnitron
CrayoNano AS of Norway partnered with Agnitron Technology for an extended material growth initiative which concluded in October 2017. The growth activities were performed at Agnitron’s MOCVD laboratory and served to jump-start CrayoNano’s technology development activities while awaiting completion of their Trondheim, Norway based growth facility. The growth activities, led by Dr. Mazid Munshi of CrayoNano, focused on developing and refining MOCVD growth processes central to supporting their revolutionary technology with potential to revamp the UV LED industry. CrayoNano’s unique methods combine state-of-the-art materials and techniques to leverage phenomena which result from the combination of novel substrates, selective area MOCVD growth, and unique AlGaN three-dimensional nanostructures.
By growing AlGaN (aluminum gallium nitride) nanowires on graphene, graphene serves both as a substrate and a UV transparent electrode in order to achieve a high external efficiency. CrayoNano’s unique device structure thus leads to reduced heat loss, and in addition, reduced material consumption. Furthermore, nanowires enable improved internal quantum efficiency, operating lifetime, and reliability. The result is an extremely thin and lightweight epiwafer able to emit large amounts of light from a small area.
Agnitron Technology, Inc. is a compound semiconductor technology company and supports MOCVD equipment-related needs of R&D and production users. Agnitron’s Agilis Series MOCVD equipment offers a menu of options for reactor (single or dual) designs, source configurations, metrology and many other performance items for advanced and flexible R&D capabilities. Agilis offers configurations which support material growth capabilities for III-N, As/P, oxide, 2-D/TMD and many other related materials. Agnitron also performs contract III-N and oxide R&D services at their MOCVD growth laboratory in Eden Prairie, MN.
CrayoNano is a nanotechnology company specializing in developing optoelectronic devices based on semiconductor nanowires on graphene. CrayoNano AS was founded in June 2012 and is located in Trondheim, Norway. The Company originates from several years of research at the Department of Electronic Systems at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim.
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- Figure 1. (Sapphire) SEM image with top-down view of selective area AlGaN nanostructure MOCVD growth on hole patterned sapphire substrate. Special substrate preparation initiates highly oriented selective area growth and results in faceted “pyramid” structures reflective of the III-N hexagonal crystal structure.
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- Figure 2. (Sapphire) SEM image of same structure type as show in Figure 1 but with perspective off-angle from top down view. The field of “pyramids” appear at first as an almost “honeycomb” structure but upon closer examination one can view the individual nanostructures, which are spaced closely together, are nearly beginning to coalesce.
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- Figure 3. SEM image of randomly oriented three-dimensional AlGaN nanostructures on hole patterned graphene substrate with angle perspective. A few holes can be seen to be empty in the figure. In this case, the hole size is too small resulting in no growth of the nanostructures.
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- Figure 4. SEM image of same structure type as Figure 3 but with top down perspective.