# US 12,224,379 B2 · Method for producing optoelectronic semiconductor chips, and optoelectronic semiconductor chip

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- Number: US 12,224,379 B2
- Document ID: US12224379B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 17/765,657
- Filed: 2020-09-25
- Published: 2022-12-01
- Granted: 2025-02-11
- Earliest claimed: 2019-10-01
- Assignees: OSRAM Opto Semiconductors GmbH
- Applicants: OSRAM Opto Semiconductors GmbH
- Inventors: Felix Feix; Ines Pietzonka; Petrus Sundgren
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12224379B2

## CPC

- H10H 20/824: comprising only Group III-V materials, e.g. GaP
- H10H 20/01: Manufacture or treatment
- H10H 20/013: {having light-emitting regions comprising only Group III-V materials}
- H10H 20/018: {Bonding of wafers}
- H10H 20/812: within the light-emitting regions, e.g. having quantum confinement structures
- H10H 20/8162: {Current-blocking structures}
- H10H 20/8215: {characterised by crystalline imperfections, e.g. dislocations; characterised by the distribution of dopants, e.g. delta-doping}
- H10W 90/00: Package configurations
- H10H: INORGANIC LIGHT-EMITTING SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES HAVING POTENTIAL BARRIERS
- H10W: GENERIC PACKAGES, INTERCONNECTIONS, CONNECTORS OR OTHER CONSTRUCTIONAL DETAILS OF DEVICES COVERED BY CLASS H10

## Abstract

In an embodiment a method for producing optoelectronic semiconductor chips includes A) growing an AlInGaAsP semiconductor layer sequence on a growth substrate along a growth direction, wherein the semiconductor layer sequence includes an active zone for radiation generation, and wherein the active zone is composed of a plurality of alternating quantum well layers and barrier layers, B) generating a structured masking layer, C) regionally intermixing the quantum well layers and the barrier layers by applying an intermixing auxiliary through openings of the masking layer into the active zone in at least one intermixing region and D) singulating the semiconductor layer sequence into sub-regions for the semiconductor chips, wherein the barrier layers in A) are grown from [(AlxGa1-x)yIn1-y]zP1-z with x≥0.5, and wherein the quantum well layers are grown in A) from [(AlaGa1-a)bIn1-b]cP1-c with o<a≤0.2.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method for producing optoelectronic semiconductor chips, the method comprising:
A) growing an AlInGaAsP semiconductor layer sequence on a growth substrate along a growth direction, wherein the semiconductor layer sequence comprises an active zone for radiation generation, and wherein the active zone is composed of a plurality of alternating quantum well layers and barrier layers;
B) generating a structured masking layer;
C) regionally intermixing the quantum well layers and the barrier layers by applying an intermixing auxiliary through openings of the masking layer into the active zone in at least one intermixing region; and
D) singulating the semiconductor layer sequence into sub-regions for the semiconductor chips, wherein the barrier layers in A) are grown from
[(AlxGa1-x)yIn1-y]zP1-z with x≥0.5, wherein the quantum well layers are grown in A) from [(AlaGa1-a)bIn1-b]cP1-c with o<a≤0.2,
wherein the method is performed in the cited order, and
wherein the at least one intermixing region is formed to comprise an indirect band gap such that radiating and non-radiating recombinations in the at least one intermixing region are reduced.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1,
wherein the masking layer is formed by a p-contact layer of the semiconductor layer sequence,
wherein the p-contact layer is completely penetrated by the openings in B),
wherein the p-contact layer comprises AlvGa1-vAs with v≤0.35,
wherein intermixing in C) is performed along the growth direction completely through the active zone,
wherein singulating in D) occurs only in the at least one intermixing region,
wherein 0.47≤y≤0.53 as well as 0.47≤z≤0.53, and
wherein 0.47≤b≤0.53 as well as 0.47≤c≤0.53.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The method according to claim 2,
wherein the active zone is located between a first semiconductor region and a second semiconductor region and the p-contact layer is a sub-layer of the second semiconductor region which is located furthest away from the active zone after A), and
wherein the openings extend at least 50 nm through the p-contact layer in a direction towards the active zone into a remaining second semiconductor region and terminate at a distance of at least 200 nm from the active zone.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1, wherein the finished semiconductor chips are light-emitting diode chips, and wherein in D) each sub-region for the semiconductor chips comprises an average edge length of at most 100 μm.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1, wherein, after D), the at least one intermixing region extends in a direction perpendicular to the growth direction at least 0.1 μm and at most 0.5 μm into the active zone.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one intermixing region extends parallel to the growth direction completely through the semiconductor layer sequence.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1,
wherein between 3 and 30, inclusive, of the quantum well layers are present after A),
wherein each quantum well layer comprises a thickness between 2 nm and 15 nm, inclusive,
wherein each barrier layer comprises a thickness between 3 nm and 25 nm, inclusive, and
wherein an emission wavelength of maximum intensity of the active zone is between 590 nm and 655 nm, inclusive.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1,
wherein, after A) and before C), at least some of the barrier layers comprise different aluminum contents,
wherein, after A) and before C) within the respective barrier layer, the respective aluminum content is constant, and
wherein a minimum and a maximum aluminum content of the barrier layers in the active zone differ by at least a factor of 1.1 and by at most a factor of 1.7.

### Claim 9 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1,
wherein at least some of the barrier layers comprise different thicknesses, and
wherein a minimum thickness and a maximum thickness of the barrier layers in the active zone differ by at least a factor 1.5 and by at most a factor 6.

### Claim 10 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1,
wherein the quantum well layers after A) and before C) are the same, and
wherein the barrier layers in the active zone are arranged asymmetrically with respect to a thickness variation and/or an aluminum content variation at least after A) until before C).

### Claim 11 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1, wherein the intermixing auxiliary is zinc.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The method according to claim 11, wherein the intermixing auxiliary is applied in C) by a vapor phase deposition in form of diethylzinc and/or dimethylzinc.

### Claim 13 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1, further comprising, after D), in E), applying a passivation layer to a cut through intermixing regions.

### Claim 14 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1, further comprising removing the growth substrate after C).

### Claim 15

An optoelectronic semiconductor chip comprising:
an AlInGaAsP semiconductor layer sequence,
wherein the semiconductor layer sequence comprises an active zone configured to generate radiation, the active zone being composed of a plurality of alternating quantum well layers and barrier layers,
wherein the semiconductor layer sequence comprises a structured masking layer,
wherein the quantum well layers and the barrier layers are regionally intermixed in the active zone in an intermixing region and an intermixing auxiliary is present in the intermixing region,
wherein the barrier layers outside the intermixing region comprise [(AlxGa1-x)yIn1-y]zP1-z with x≥0.5, and the quantum well layers outside the intermixing region comprise [(AlaGa1-a)bIn1-b]cP1-c with o<a≤0.2, and
wherein the at least one intermixing region comprises an indirect band gap such that radiating and non-radiating recombinations in the at least one intermixing region are reduceable.

### Claim 16 (depends on 15)

The optoelectronic semiconductor chip according to claim 15, wherein the optoelectronic semiconductor chip is a light emitting diode chip with an emission wavelength of maximum intensity between 560 nm and 670 nm, inclusive, with an average edge length of at most 50 μm, and wherein the intermixing region extends in a direction perpendicular to a growth direction of the semiconductor layer sequence at least 0.1 μm and at most 0.5 μm into the active zone.