ICP dry etching ITO to improve the performance of GaN-based LEDs

Abstract

In order to improve the light efficiency of the conventional GaN-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs), the indium tin oxide (ITO) film is introduced as the current spreading layer and the light anti-reflecting layer on the p-GaN surface. There is a big problem with the ITO thin film's corrosion during the electrode preparation. In this paper, at least, the edge of the ITO film was lateral corroded 3.5 μm width, i.e. 6.43%-1/3 of ITO film's area. An optimized simple process, i.e. inductively couple plasma (ICP), was introduced to solve this problem. The ICP process not only prevented the ITO film from lateral corrosion, but also improved the LED's light intensity and device performance. The edge of the ITO film by ICP dry etching is steep, and the areas of ITO film are whole. Compared with the chip by wet etching, the areas of light emission increase by 6.43% at least and the chip's lop values increase by 45.9% at most.