Nitride semiconductor device and fabrication method thereof

Details Nitride semiconductor device and fabrication method thereof Nitride semiconductor device and fabrication method thereof

2002-07-03

2004-05-18

Pham, Long (Department: 2814)

Active solid-state devices (e.g., transistors, solid-state diode

Incoherent light emitter structure

C257S013000, C257S080000, C257S085000, C257S094000, C257S099000, C257S103000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06737678

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a nitride semiconductor device for use in a laser diode or light-emitting diode that emits blue light and to a method of fabricating such a nitride semiconductor device. More particularly, the present invention relates to a nitride semiconductor device having a nitride semiconductor substrate and to a method of fabricating such a nitride semiconductor device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Expectations have been running high for and various applications have been attempted with Ill-V nitride semiconductors composed of a group III element such as Al, Ga, or In and a group V element N (hereinafter such a semiconductor will be referred to as a “GaN-based semiconductor”) as light-emitting devices and power devices for their desirable band structure and chemical stability. For example, many attempts have been made to lay a layer of a GaN-based semiconductor on a sapphire substrate to produce a nitride semiconductor device that emits blue laser. In general, in AlGaInAs- or AlGaInP-based nitride semiconductor devices, cavities, which are essential for laser oscillation, are produced by the use of cleavage planes.
However, in a case where a GaN-based semiconductor layer is laid on a sapphire substrate, since sapphire does not cleave easily, the end surfaces of the produced chip have surface irregularities as large as 4 to 10 nm on average, making it difficult to obtain a satisfactory cavity. Furthermore, in a case where a nitride semiconductor device is formed by laying a GaN-based semiconductor layer on a sapphire substrate, since, in general, the angle at which sapphire cleaves is 30° apart from the angle at which the GaN-based semiconductor layer laid on the substrate cleaves, it is difficult to reduce the surface irregularities on the end surfaces irrespective of along which of the substrate's and the upper layer's cleavage planes the chip is diced apart.
For these reasons, much attention has been paid to using, as a substrate on which to lay a GaN-based semiconductor layer, a GaN-based substrate that cleaves easily and that cleaves in the same direction as the GaN-based semiconductor layer laid on its surface and producing the end surfaces by cleavage. Here, a GaN-based substrate denotes a substrate formed out of a GaN-based semiconductor. When a GaN-based substrate is used, the GaN-based semiconductor layer and the GaN-based substrate cleave in the same direction, and therefore the end surfaces are expected to be flat. Moreover, when a GaN-based substrate is used, good lattice matching is achieved between the GaN-based substrate and the GaN-based semiconductor layer laid on it, and no difference exists between their thermal expansion coefficients. This helps reduce the strain on and hence defects of the nitride semiconductor device, and is thus expected to extend the useful life of the nitride semiconductor device.
An example of a nitride semiconductor device in which, as described above, a GaN-based semiconductor layer is laid on a GaN-based substrate and then the end surfaces of the cavity are produced by cleavage is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-4048.
However, concerning the abovementioned example of a nitride semiconductor device using a GaN-based substrate disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-4048, there is given no detailed description about how the end surfaces of the cavity are produced or how the chip is diced apart. This has led the inventors of the present invention to try in various ways how a wafer using a GaN-based substrate cleaves, only to find that, in practice, it is difficult to dice such a wafer with a constant, uniform cavity length and at a satisfactory yield rate.
For example, in the dicing process of a wafer
130
, as shown in
FIG. 13
, having stripe-shaped optical waveguides
131
and having cleavage guide grooves
132
formed at an edge so as to run in the direction of cleavage, ideally, cavities are produced as a result of the wafer
130
being cleaved along cleaving lines, like the one designated as
133
, running in the same direction as the cleavage guide grooves
132
. Cleaving along such cleaving lines
133
permits the stripe-shaped optical waveguides
131
to be split with flat surfaces. This makes it possible to produce nitride semiconductor devices at a high yield rate. In reality, however, many dicing lines meander, like the one designated as
134
, or run at 60°, like the one designated as
135
, relative to the desired dicing direction.
One cause of the formation of such unintended dicing lines as those designated as
134
and
135
is that, even when cleavage guide grooves
132
are formed in the <
11
-
21
> direction (of which a description will be given later) in which cleavage occurs, in a GaN-based substrate, which has a hexagonal crystal structure, directions that are at 60° relative to that direction are equally valid cleavage directions, and therefore cleavage occurs as easily also along lines that are at 60° relative to the desired dicing direction. If such unintended cleavage occurs only once, a dicing line like the one designated as
135
in
FIG. 13
results; if such unintended cleavage occurs continuously, a dicing line like the one designated as
134
results. Another cause is that, compared with a sapphire substrate, a GaN-based substrate is so brittle as to make cleavage in inclined directions as described above more likely, causing, in the worst case, the devices to be broken to pieces.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a nitride semiconductor device that is diced apart with flat surfaces at the ends of the cavity. Another object of the present invention is to provide a method of fabricating a nitride semiconductor device which permits dicing to be achieved in a fixed direction all the time.
To achieve the above objects, according to one aspect of the present invention, a nitride semiconductor device is provided with:
a substrate that exhibits cleavage;
a nitride semiconductor layer including a cleavage plane equal to a cleavage plane of the substrate and formed out of a compound containing a group III element and nitrogen;
a stripe-shaped optical waveguide formed in the nitride semiconductor layer;
a cavity formed by cleaved end surfaces of the nitride semiconductor layer and the stripe-shaped optical waveguide; and
a cleavage guide groove formed, to help form the end surfaces, in the top surface of the nitride semiconductor layer from above elsewhere than right above the stripe-shaped optical waveguide.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a method of fabricating a nitride semiconductor device as described above includes the steps of:
adjusting to within the range from 80 to 160 &mgr;m the thickness of a nitride semiconductor wafer formed by depositing on a substrate that exhibits cleavage a nitride semiconductor layer formed out of a compound containing a group III element and nitrogen and including a cleavage plane equal to a cleavage plane of the substrate, with a plurality of stripe-shaped optical waveguides formed at equal intervals in the nitride semiconductor layer;
forming a plurality of cleavage guide grooves in the shape of discontinuous broken lines in the top surface of the nitride semiconductor wafer by scribing from above the nitride semiconductor layer in such a way that the cleavage guide grooves reach the substrate; and
cleaving the nitride semiconductor wafer along the cleavage guide grooves.
Here, the cleavage guide grooves are formed elsewhere than right above the stripe-shaped optical waveguides.


REFERENCES:
patent: 5373173 (1994-12-01), Ohata et al.
patent: 6278173 (2001-08-01), Kobayashi et al.
patent: 11-004048 (1999-01-01), None
patent: 11-251265 (1999-09-01), None

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