Diamond LED Substrate and Novel Quantum Dots

Nitride LED (e.g., GaN) has become the mainstream of blue light source. The blue light can be converted to white light by exciting a phosphor (e.g., Nichia's YAG or Osram's TAG) with the complementary yellow emission. However, GaN is typically deposited on sapphire (Al₂O₃) substrates formed by crystal pulling or hexagonal (e.g., 4 H or 6 H) SiC wafers condensed from SiC vapor. In either case, the nitride lattice is ridden (e.g., 10⁹/cm²) with dislocations. The high dislocation density with sapphire is due to the large (>13%) lattice mismatch; and with hexagonal SiC, because of intrinsic defects. Cubic (beta) SiC may be deposited epitaxially using a CVD reactor onto silicon wafer by diffusing the interface and by chemical gradation. A reactive echant (e.g., hydrogen or fluorine) can be introduced periodically to gasify mis-aligned atoms. In this case, large single crystal wafers would be available for the manufacture of high bright LED with superb electro-optical efficiency. The SiC wafer may be coated with diamond film that can eliminate heat in real time. As a result of lower temperature, the nitride LED can be brighter and it will last longer. The blue light of GaN LED formed on SiC on Diamond (SiCON) LED may also be scattered by using novel quantum dots (e.g., 33 atom pairs of CdSe) to form a broad yellow light that blend in with the original blue light to form sunlight-like white light. This would be the ideal source for general illumination (e.g., for indoor) or backlighting (e.g., for LCD).