Hexagonal Boron Nitride DUV LED

Previously, a research team at Pohang University of Science and Technology in South Korea produced DUV LEDs using hexagonal boron nitride (hBN), a new material.

The hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) used by Professor Jonghwan Kim's research team is a van der Waals (vdW) layered material, just like graphite. It is often called "white graphene" because its single-layer structure is similar to graphene and it is transparent. Unlike AlxGa1-xN, it emits light at DUV frequencies and is therefore considered an effective new material for developing DUV LEDs. However, due to its large band gap, it is difficult to inject electrons and holes, making it difficult to make LEDs.

To this end, the researchers applied a strong voltage on the hBN nanofilm to induce a tunneling mechanism and inject electrons and holes into the hBN band edge. In this way, the researchers successfully created an LED device based on a van der Waals heterostructure composed of stacked graphene, hBN, and graphene. Subsequent UV microspectroscopy analysis confirmed that the newly fabricated device emits intense UV light.