Theoretical and experimental analysis of the effects of the series resistance on luminous efficacy in GaN-based light emitting diodes

In this paper, a new equivalent circuit model of GaN-based light emitting diodes （LEDs） is established. The impact of the series resistance to luminous efficacy is simulated using the MATLAB software. GaN-based LEDs with different n- contact electrode materials （LEDs with Ni/Au and LEDs with Cr/Au） are fabricated. By comparing and analyzing the results of performances, we concluded that both the series resistance and the carrier loss could affect the luminous efficacy severely. LEDs with lower series resistance have higher luminous efficacy and its efficiency droop is alleviated simultaneously. To improve luminous efficacy, the fabrication process should be optimized for lower series resistance.

Influence of light absorption on the metallic nanotextured reflectors of GaN-based light emitting diodes

Metallic nanotextured reflectors have been widely used in light emitting diodes(LEDs) to enhance the light extraction efficiency. However, the light absorption loss for the metallic reflectors with nanotexture structure is often neglected. Here, the influence of absorption loss of metallic nanotextured reflectors on the LED optoelectronic properties were studied. Two commonly used metal reflectors Ag and Al were applied to green GaN-based LEDs. By applying a Ag nanotextured reflector, the light output power of the LEDs was enhanced by 78% due to the improved light extraction. For an Al nanotextured reflector, however,only a 6% enhancement of the light output power was achieved. By analyzing the metal absorption using finite-difference timedomain(FDTD) and the metal reflectivity spectrum, it is shown that the surface plasmon(SP) intrinsic absorption of metallic reflectors with nanotexture structure play an important role. This finding will aid the design of the high-performance metal nanotextured reflectors and optoelectronics devices.

Enhancement of light output powers of GaN-based light emitting diodes with textured indium tin oxide transparent layer by using corrosive liquid

In order to promote the light output powers of GaN-based light emitting diodes (LEDs), two kinds of novel corrosive liquidshave been developed in this paper to roughen the surface of the indium tin oxide (ITO) current spreading layer of LEDs. As aresult, the textured transparent ITO layer greatly enhanced the external quantum efficiency of the LEDs. Provided that a wafersample was dipped in a kind of corrosive liquid developed by us for only about 60 s, the light output powers of the LEDs canbe promoted by 24.7%, compared with conventional GaN-based LEDs. It is obvious that the presented method is simple, rapidand cost-effective.

Effect of surface plasmon coupling with radiating dipole on the polarization characteristics of AlGaN-based light-emitting diodes

The optical polarization characteristics of surface plasmon(SP)coupled Al Ga N-based light emitting diodes(LEDs)are investigated theoretically by analyzing the radiation recombination process and scattering process respectively.For the Al_(0.5)Ga_(0.5)N/Al/Al_(2)O_(3)slab structure,the relative intensity of TE-polarized and TM-polarized spontaneous emission(SE)rate into the SP mode obviously depends on the thickness of the Al layer.The calculation results show that TM dominated emission will be transformed into TE dominated emission with the decrease of the Al thickness,while the emission intensities of both TE/TM polarizations will decrease significantly.In addition,compared with TM polarized emission,TE polarized emission is easier to be extracted by SP coupling.For the Al_(0.5)Ga_(0.5)N/Al nano-particle structure,the ratio of transmittance for TE/TM polarized emission can reach~3.06,while for the Al free structure,it is only 1.2.Thus,the degree of polarization of SP coupled LED can be improved by the reasonable structural design.

Improvement of extraction efficiency for GaN-based light emitting diodes

A simple, low cost method for mass production to enhance the light extraction efficiency of GaN-related LEDs was proposed. With appropriate process parameters, the nature lithography of nanosphere can be used to fabricate two-dimensional nanostructures, including the nanomesh ZnO layer, photonic crystal (PhC) patterned p-GaN, and patterned sapphire substrates. Based on preliminary results, the extraction efficiencies of LEDs with these nanostructures can thus be improved and the nature lithography is demonstrated to be a promising method to be widely exploited in the manufacture of all kinds of LED devices.

Performance improvement of AlGaN-based deep ultraviolet light-emitting diodes with double electron blocking layers

The AlGaN-based deep ultraviolet light-emitting diodes（LED） with double electron blocking layers（d-EBLs） on both sides of the active region are investigated theoretically. They possess many excellent performances compared with the conventional structure with only a single electron blocking layer, such as a higher recombination rate, improved light output power and internal quantum efficiency（IQE）. The reasons can be concluded as follows. On the one hand, the weakened electrostatic field within the quantum wells（QWs） enhances the electron–hole spatial overlap in QWs, and therefore increases the probability of radioactive recombination. On the other hand, the added n-AlGaN layer can not only prevent holes from overflowing into the n-side region but also act as another electron source, providing more electrons.

Improved light extraction of GaN-based light-emitting diodes with surface-textured indium tin oxide electrodes by nickel nanoparticle mask dry-etching

GaN-based light-emitting diodes （LEDs） with surface-textured indium tin oxide （ITO） as a transparent current spreading layer were fabricated. The ITO surface was textured by inductively coupled plasma （ICP） etching technology using a monolayer of nickel （Ni） nanoparticles as the etching mask. The luminance intensity of ITO surface-textured GaN-based LEDs was enhanced by about 34% compared to that of conventional LED without textured ITO layer. In addition, the fabricated ITO surface-textured GaN-based LEDs would present a quite good performance in electrical characteristics. The results indicate that the scattering of photons emitted in the active layer was greatly enhanced via the textured ITO surface, and the ITO surface-textured technique could have a potential application in improving photoelectric characteristics for manufacturing GaN-based LEDs of higher brightness.

Temperature-dependent efficiency droop behaviors of GaN-based green light-emitting diodes

The efficiency droop behaviors of GaN-based green light-emitting diodes （LEDs） are studied as a function of temperature from 300 K to 480 K. The overall quantum efficiency of the green LEDs is found to degrade as temperature increases, which is mainly caused by activation of new non-radiative recombination centers within the LED active layer. Meanwhile, the external quantum efficiency of the green LEDs starts to decrease at low injection current level （1 A/cm2 ） with a temperature-insensitive peak-efficiency-current. In contrast, the peak-efficiency-current of a control GaN-based blue LED shows continuous up-shift at higher temperatures. Around the onset point of efficiency droop, the electroluminescence spectra of the green LEDs also exhibit a monotonic blue-shift of peak energy and a reduction of full width at half maximum as injection current increases. Carrier delocalization is believed to play an important role in causing the efficiency droop in GaN-based green LEDs.

Analysis on electrical characteristics of high-voltage GaN-based light-emitting diodes

In order to investigate their electrical characteristics, high-voltage light-emitting-diodes （HV-LEDs） each contain- ing four cells in series are fabricated. The electrical parameters including varying voltage and parasitic effect are studied. It is shown that the ideality factors （IFs） of the HV-LEDs with different numbers of cells are 1.6, 3.4, 4.7, and 6.4. IF increases linearly with the number of cells increasing. Moreover, the performance of the HV-LED with failure cells is examined, The analysis indicates that the failure cell has a parallel resistance which induces the leakage of the failure cell. The series resistance of the failure cell is 76.8 Ω, while that of the normal cell is 21.3 Ω. The scanning electron microscope （SEM） image indicates that different metal layers do not contact well. It is hard to deposit the metal layers in the deep isolation trenches. The fabrication process of HV-LEDs needs to be optimized.

Tuning a nano-pillar array for enhancing the photoluminescence extraction efficiency of GaN-based light-emitting diodes

We demonstrate the fabrication of hexagonal nano-pillar arrays at the surface of GaN-based light-emitting diodes （LEDs） by nanosphere lithography. By varying the oxygen plasma etching time, we could tune the size and shape of the pillar. The nano-pillar has a truncated cone shape. The nano-pillar array serves as a gradual effective refractive index matcher, which reduces the reflection and increases light cone. It is found that the patterned surface absorbs more pumping light. To compare extraction efficiencies of LEDs, it is necessary to normalize the photoluminescence power spectrum with total absorption rate under fixed pumping power, then we could obtain the correct enhancement factor of the photoluminescence extraction efficiency and optimized structure. The highest enhancement factor of the extraction efficiency is 10.6.

Efficiency droop suppression in GaN-based light-emitting diodes by chirped multiple quantum well structure at high current injection

Gallium nitride （GaN） based light-emitting diodes （LEDs） with chirped multiple quantum well （MQW） structures have been investigated experimentally and numerically in this paper. Compared to conventional LEDs with uniform quantum wells （QWs）, LEDs with chirped MQW structures have better internal quantum efficiency （IQE） and carrier injection efficiency. The droop ratios of LEDs with chirped MQW structures show a remarkable improvement at 600 mA/mm2, reduced down from 28.6% （conventional uniform LEDs） to 23.7% （chirped MQWs-a） and 18.6% （chirped MQWs-b）, respectively. Meanwhile, the peak IQE increases from 76.9% （uniform LEDs） to 83.7% （chirped MQWs-a） and 88.6% （chirped MQWs-b）. The reservoir effect of chirped MQW structures is the significant reason as it could increase hole injection efficiency and radiative recombination. The leakage current and Auger recombination of chirped MQW structures can also be suppressed. Furthermore, the chirped MQWs-b structure with lower potential barriers can enhance the reservoir effect and obtain further improvement of the carrier injection efficiency and radiative recombination, as well as further suppressing efficiency droop.

Enhanced light extraction of GaN-based light-emitting diodes with periodic textured SiO_2 on Al-doped ZnO transparent conductive layer

We report an effective enhancement in light extraction of Ga N-based light-emitting diodes（LEDs） with an Al-doped Zn O（AZO） transparent conductive layer by incorporating a top regular textured SiO2 layer. The 2 inch transparent throughpore anodic aluminum oxide（AAO） membrane was fabricated and used as the etching mask. The periodic pore with a pitch of about 410 nm was successfully transferred to the surface of the SiO2 layer without any etching damages to the AZO layer and the electrodes. The light output power was enhanced by 19% at 20 m A and 56% at 100 m A compared to that of the planar LEDs without a patterned surface. This approach offers a technique to fabricate a low-cost and large-area regular pattern on the LED chip for achieving enhanced light extraction without an obvious increase of the forward voltage.

Enhancement in Light Extraction Efficiency of GaN-Based Light-Emitting Diodes Using Double Dielectric Surface Passivation

SiO2Al2O3 double dielectric stack layer was deposited on the surface of the GaN-based light-emitting diode (LED). The double dielectric stack layer enhances both the electrical characteristics and the optical output power of the LED because the first Al2O3 layer plays a role of effectively passivating the p-GaN surface and the second lower index SiO2 layer increases the critical angle of the light emitted from the LED surface. In addition, the effect of the Fresnel reflection is also responsible for the enhancement in output power of the double dielectric passivated LED. The leakage current of the LED passivated with Al2O3 layer was -3.46 × 10-11 A at -5 V, at least two and three orders lower in magnitude compared to that passivated with SiO2 layer (-7.14 × 10-9 A) and that of non-passivated LED (-1.9 × 10-8 A), respectively, which indicates that the Al2O3 layer is very effective in passivating the exposed GaN surface after dry etch and hence reduces nonradiative recombination as well as reabsorption of the emitted light near the etched surface.

Degradation behaviors of high power GaN-based blue light emitting diodes

The degradation mechanism of high power InGaN/GaN blue light emitting diodes （LEDs） is investigated in this paper. The LED samples were stressed at room temperature under 350-mA injection current for about 400 h. The light output power of the LEDs decreased by 35% during the first 100 h and then remained almost unchanged, and the reverse current at-5 V increased from 10^-9 A to 10^-7 A during the aging process. The power law, whose meaning was re-illustrated by the improved rate equation, was used to analyze the light output power-injection current （L-I） curves. The analysis results indicate that nonradiative recombination, Auger recombination, and the third-order term of carriers overflow increase during the aging process, all of which may be important reasons for the degradation of LEDs. Besides, simulating L-I curves with the improved rate equation reveal that higher-than-third-order terms of carriers overflow may not be the main degradation mechanism, because they change slightly when the LED is stressed.

Effects of electrical stress on the characteristics and defect behaviors in GaN-based near-ultraviolet light emitting diodes

The degradation mechanism of GaN-based near-ultraviolet(NUV,320-400 nm)light emitting diodes(LEDs)with low-indium content under electrical stress is studied from the aspect of defects.A decrease in the optical power and an increase in the leakage current are observed after electrical stress.The defect behaviors are characterized using deep level transient spectroscopy(DLTS)measurement under different filling pulse widths.After stress,the concentration of defects with the energy level of 0.47-0.56 eV increases,accompanied by decrease in the concentration of 0.72-0.84 eV defects.Combing the defect energy level with the increased yellow luminescence in photoluminescence spectra,the device degradation can be attributed to the activation of the gallium vacancy and oxygen related complex defect along dislocation,which was previously passivated with hydrogen.This study reveals the evolution process of defects under electrical stress and their spatial location,laying a foundation for manufacture of GaN-based NUV LEDs with high reliability.

Enhanced performance of AlGaN-based ultraviolet light-emitting diodes with linearly graded AlGaN inserting layer in electron blocking layer

The conventional stationary Al content Al GaN electron blocking layer(EBL) in ultraviolet light-emitting diode(UV LED) is optimized by employing a linearly graded Al Ga N inserting layer which is 2.0 nm Al_(0.3) Ga_(0.7) N/5.0 nm Alx Ga_(1-x) N/8.0 nm Al_(0.3) Ga_(0.7) N with decreasing value of x. The results indicate that the internal quantum efficiency is significantly improved and the efficiency droop is mitigated by using the proposed structure. These improvements are attributed to the increase of the effective barrier height for electrons and the reduction of the effective barrier height for holes,which result in an increased hole injection efficiency and a decreased electron leakage into the p-type region. In addition,the linearly graded AlGaN inserting layer can generate more holes in EBL due to the polarization-induced hole doping and a tunneling effect probably occurs to enhance the hole transportation to the active regions, which will be beneficial to the radiative recombination.

Design of patterned sapphire substrates for GaN-based light-emitting diodes

A new method for patterned sapphire substrate （PSS） design is developed and proven to be reliable and cost-effective. As progress is made with LEDs＇ luminous efficiency, the pattern units of PSS become more complicated, and the effect of complicated geometrical features is almost impossible to study systematically by experiments only. By employing our new method, the influence of pattern parameters can be systematically studied, and various novel patterns are designed and optimized within a reasonable time span, with great improvement in LEDs＇ light extraction efficiency （LEE）. Clearly, PSS pattern design with such a method deserves particular attention. We foresee that GaN-based LEDs on these newly designed PSSs will achieve more progress in the coming years.

Effects of ultrasonic bonding parameters on reliability of flip chip GaN-based light emitting diode

This work applied the ultrasonic bonding to package flip chip GaN-based light emitting diodes （flip chip LEDs） on Si substrates. The effects of ultrasonic bonding parameters on the reliability of flip chip GaN-based LED were investigated. In the sequent aging tests, samples were driven with a constant current of 80 mA for hundreds hours at the room temperature. It was found that the electroluminescence （EL） intensity variation had a large correlation to the ultrasonic power, and then to the bonding temperature and force. A high bonding temperature and ultrasonic power and a proper bonding force improved the EL intensity significantly. It was contributed to a strong atom inter-diffusion forming a stable joint at the bonding interface, The temperature fluctuation in the aging test was the main factor to generate a high inner stress forming delamination at the interface between the chip and Au bump. As a result, delamination had retarded the photons to emit out of the LED packaging and decay its EL intensity.

Enhanced performances of InGaN/GaN-based blue light-emitting diode with InGaN/AlInGaN superlattice electron blocking layer

InGaN/AIlnGaN superlattice （SL） is designed as the electron blocking layer （EBL） of an InGaN/GaN-based light- emitting diode （LED）. The energy band structure, polarization field at the last-GaN-barrier/EBL interface, carrier concen- tration, radiative recombination rate, electron leakage, internal quantum efficiency （IQE）, current-voltage （l-V） perfor- mance curve, light output-current （L-l） characteristic, and spontaneous emission spectrum are systematically numerically investigated using APSYS simulation software. It is found that the fabricated LED with InGaN/AIInGaN SL EBL exhibits higher light output power, low forward voltage, and low current leakage compared with those of its counterparts. Meanwhile, the efficiency droop can be effectively mitigated. These improvements are mainly attributed to the higher hole injection efficiency and better electron confinement when InGaN/AIlnGaN SL EBL is used.

Improvement of the carrier distribution with GaN/InGa N/AlGaN/InGaN/GaN composition-graded barrier for InGaN-based blue light-emitting diode

In Ga N light-emitting diodes（LEDs） with Ga N/In Ga N/Al Ga N/In Ga N/Ga N composition-graded barriers are proposed to replace the sixth and the middle five Ga N barriers under the condition of removing the electron blocking layer（EBL）and studied numerically in this paper. Simulation results show that the specially designed barrier in the sixth barrier is able to modulate the distributions of the holes and electrons in quantum well which is adjacent to the specially designed barrier. Concretely speaking, the new barrier could enhance both the electron and hole concentration remarkably in the previous well and reduce the hole concentration for the latter one to some extent along the growth direction. What is more,a phenomenon, i.e., a better carrier distribution in all the wells, just appears with the adoption of the new barriers in the middle five barriers, resulting in a much higher light output power and a lower efficiency droop than those in a conventional LED structure.