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

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.