Epitaxial formation structures and associated methods of manufacturing solid state lighting devices

Abstract

Epitaxial formation structures and associated methods of manufacturing solid state lighting (“SSL”) devices with target thermal expansion characteristics are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, an SSL device includes a composite structure having a composite CTE temperature dependency, a formation structure on the composite structure, and an SSL structure on the formation structure. The SSL structure has an SSL temperature dependency, and a difference between the composite CTE and SSL temperature dependencies is below 3 ppm/° C. over the temperature range.

I/We claim: 
     
         1 . A method for manufacturing a solid state lighting (SSL) device, comprising:
 attaching a formation structure to a composite structure, the composite structure having a first coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) dependency over a temperature range, the composite structure including polycrystalline aluminum nitride (AlN) and a CTE control material combined with the polycrystalline AlN; and   forming an SSL structure on the formation structure, the SSL structure having a second CTE temperature dependency over the temperature range,   wherein a first difference between the first and second CTE temperature dependencies is below a first target threshold over a first portion of the temperature range, and   wherein a second difference between the first and second CTE temperature dependencies is below a second target threshold over a second portion of the temperature range, wherein the second portion is lower than the first portion.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first target threshold and the second target threshold are each less than 3 ppm/° C. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the st target threshold and the second target threshold are each less than 3 ppm/° C. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the CTE control material includes a first material configured to increase the first CTE dependency over the first portion of the temperature range and a second material configured to increase the first CTE dependency over the second portion of the temperature range. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the second material increases the first CTE dependency over the second portion of the temperature range by a larger amount than the second material increases the first CTE dependency over the first portion of the temperature range. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first portion of the temperature range corresponds to an epitaxial growth of the SSL structure and wherein the second portion of the temperature range corresponds to a cool-down of the SSL device. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first portion of the temperature range is between 800° C. and 1100° C. and the second portion of the temperature range is between room temperature and 800° C. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising reducing a thickness of the formation structure attached to the composite structure prior to forming the SSL structure. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the formation structure is attached to the composite structure through solid-solid bonding. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 . wherein the formation structure has a thickness that is about 10 nanometers to about 2 micrometers. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising removing the composite structure from the SSL device after forming the SSL structure. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising removing the formation structure from the SSL device after removing composite structure. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the CTE control material comprises silicon nitride (Si 3 N 4 ), titanium nitride (TiN), zirconium nitride (ZrN), hafnium nitride (HfN), silicon oxide (SiO 2 ), aluminum oxide (Al 2 O 3 ), aluminum oxynitride (AlON), titanium carbide (TiC), zirconium carbide (ZrC), hafnium carbide (HfC), silicon carbide (SiC), yttrium oxide (Y2O 3 ), or a combination thereof. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the formation structure includes silicon having a Si(1,1,1) crystal orientation or Si(1,0,0) crystal orientation. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the formation structure includes silicon, aluminum gallium nitride (AlGaN), GaN, SiC, Al 2 O 3 , zinc oxide (ZnO2), gallium arsenide (GaAs), or a combination thereof. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein a volume ratio of the polycrystalline aluminum nitride (AlN) to the CTE control material is between about 0.75 to about 0.95. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein a volume ratio of the polycrystalline aluminum nitride (AlN) to the CTE control material is between about 0.4 to about 0.7. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the composite structure comprises AlN x :Y 2 O 3(y) :HfC( 1-x-y ), wherein x is between about 0.4 and about 0.7, and y is between about 0.01 and about 0.1. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the composite structure comprises AlN (x) :Y 2 O 3(y) :Al 2 O 3(1-x-y) , wherein x is between about 0.75 and about 0.9, and y is between about 0.01 and about 0.2. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the composite structure comprises AlN (x) :Y 2 O 3(1-x,) , wherein x is between about 0.75 and about 0.9.