Light Extraction Efficiency Research Articles

On the impact of the beveled mesa for GaN-based micro-light emitting diodes: electrical and optical properties.

In this report, the impact of different mesa designs on the optical and electrical characteristics for GaN-based micro-light emitting diodes (µLEDs) has been systematically and numerically investigated by using TCAD simulation tools. Our results show that an enhanced light extraction efficiency can be obtained by using beveled mesas. The inclined mesa angles can more effectively reflect the photons to the substrate, and this helps to extract the photons to free air for flip-chip µLEDs. However, it is found that the current injection is influenced by inclination angles for the investigated µLEDs, such that the beveled mesas make stronger charge-coupling effect and increase the electric field magnitude in the multiple quantum wells at the mesa edge, so that the carriers cannot be effective consumed by radiative recombination. As a result, this gives rise to stronger defect-induced nonradiative recombination at mesa surfaces. Therefore, there are tradeoffs between the LEEs and IQEs when changing the beveled angle, to maximize external quantum efficiency for GaN-based µLEDs, the beveled mesa angle shall be carefully designed and optimized.

Deep‐Ultraviolet LEDs Incorporated with SiO2‐Based Microcavities Toward High‐Speed Ultraviolet Light Communication

AbstractOptical wireless communication (OWC) in the deep‐ultraviolet (DUV) band requires an efficient DUV light source with large bandwidth characteristics. In this work, a feasible approach is reported to enlarge the light output power as well as the bandwidth of a DUV light‐emitting diode (LED) by embedding a SiO2‐based microcavity on which an aluminum (Al) reflector is simultaneously deposited. Consequently, on the one hand, the microcavity with the Al‐reflector can facilitate photon escape from the LED to increase the light extraction efficiency, thus enhancing the light output power of the devices. On the other hand, the LED incorporated with a microcavity structure exhibits a reduced resistance–capacitance time constant, leading to an increase in the modulation bandwidth of the LED. Strikingly, the DUV LED incorporated with microcavities represents a significant enhancement of light output power by nearly 30% at 80 mA while exhibiting a higher modulation bandwidth of 12% in comparison to the conventional LED without microcavities. Thus, the implementation of the microcavity and Al reflector on top of a classic LED can enlarge the light output power and modulation bandwidth, eventually facilitating to establish viable high‐speed OWC systems.

Improved extraction efficiency of CsPbBr3 perovskite light-emitting diodes due to anodic aluminum oxide nanopore structure

In this work, we investigate the improvement in the performance of a CsPbBr3 perovskite light-emitting diode (PeLED) due to an anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) nanopore structure. The AAO structure in the CsPbBr3 PeLED structure can improve the light extraction efficiency of CsPbBr3 PeLEDs in two ways: the emission light in the side direction being redirected to the normal direction due to the light scattering effect caused by aluminum oxide nanopores and the effective emission area as a result of the rough surface of the AAO structure. The peak luminance, current efficiency, and external quantum efficiency (EQE) were 11,460 cd/m2, 2.03 cd/A, and 0.69% at a bias of 6.0 V, respectively. For comparison, the luminance, current efficiency, and EQE values of CsPbBr3 PeLEDs with the AAO structure using 50 V of pore-expanding voltage demonstrated improvements of 282%, 190%, and 1280%, respectively, over CsPbBr3 PeLEDs without the AAO structure.

Impact of photon recycling on the light extraction from metal halide perovskite light emitting diodes

The impact of photon recycling on the efficiency of light extraction from metal halide perovskite light emitting diodes is quantified using a novel modelling framework based on a detailed-balance compatible Green dyad approach. Analysis of photon modes contributing to internal emission and iterative evaluation of re-absorption and re-emission processes is performed for single perovskite layers in absence and presence of a metallic reflector and under consideration of associated parasitic absorption losses. Finally, the approach is employed to characterize the emission characteristics of a realistic multilayer device stack in dependence of the emitter thickness.

Optical Efficiency Improvement of Chip-on-Board Design LEDs with TiO2/Silicone Packaging Coating

Since TiO2 nanoparticles and silicon composites include a strong scatter influence, they are well-known for improving scattered lighting in LED packets. To improve the optic quality of LEDs packaged with chip-on-board (COB), a thin layer made of high-concentration TiO2 and silicon glue is added to the primary packing layer. COB LEDs’ light extraction efficiency (LEE) rises up to 65% when the key encapsulation includes just silicone, according to the findings of experiments. As a coating of TiO2 and silicone is added, however, the increase in LEE is dependent on the TiO2 concentration. The LEE can be increased from 6% to 24% as the concentration of nanoparticles drops to 0.035 g/cm3. Furthermore, at a mean correlated color temperature (CCT) of around 8500 K, the TiO2/silicone compounds layer will assist in lowering the angular correlated color temperature (CCT) variance between 900 and 470 K within the -90° to 90° observing angle range.

AlGaN Ultraviolet Micro-LEDs

AlGaN-based UV LEDs have proven to have broad applications in many fields including sterilization, disinfection, purification, and phototherapy, but the performance still needs to be further improved. Benefiting from advantages such as better current spreading, lower self-heating effect and higher light extraction efficiency achieved by the reduced LED size, UV micro-LEDs are expected to improve quantum efficiency and thus can expand more potential applications. In this article, performance enhancement techniques and applications of UV micro-LEDs will be reviewed, providing an outlook for further development of AlGaN-based UV-LEDs. The micro-LED format offers possibilities to address fundamental issues that UV LEDs confront in general, but also demonstrates specific characteristics and performance advantages opening up new areas of application including high-speed optical communication, time-resolved fluorescence lifetime measurement, optical pumping, direct writing and charge management.

Light Efficiency Investigation of Ultraviolet Light-Emitting Diodes Combined With Polarized Emission and Packaging Structure

Ultraviolet light-emitting diodes (UV-LEDs) have attracted extensive applications in resin curing, medical treatment, biochemical inspection, and disinfection. However, the UV-LEDs suffer from the main bottleneck of low light efficiency, which depends on the polarized emission and packaging structure of UV-LEDs simultaneously. In this work, we investigated the light efficiency of UV-LEDs combined with polarized emission and packaging structure. Four types of UV-LEDs (UVC-A, UVC-B, UVB, and UVC) without a lens (UV-Ref.), with a flat lens (UV-FL), and with a hemispherical lens (UV-HL) were fabricated, respectively. Through investigating the light output power, far-field emission pattern, and electrical field intensity distribution of UV-LEDs, the UV-HL packaging structure displays the highest emission intensity and light output power in the whole UV band. Compared with the UVC-A-Ref. and UVC-A-FL structures, the enhancement ratios of the light output power of UVC-A-HL structure are 28.9% and 46.5%, respectively. Furthermore, the light extraction efficiency of the TM-polarized mode in the UVC-A-HL structure is enhanced by 29.6% compared with the UVC-A-Ref. structure. The results indicate that the light extraction of UV-LEDs is greatly affected by the polarized emission and packaging structure. Our work opens an efficient guidance to enhance the light efficiency of various UV-LEDs with appropriate packaging structure.

Enhanced light output of scintillators by ZnO nanorod arrays

Scintillators are widely used in national security, industrial and medical fields. The light extraction efficiency of scintillator is quite low due to the total internal reflection. Therefore, enhancement the light output of scintillator is highly important. In this paper, we use ZnO nanorod (NR) arrays fabricated by a simple hydrothermal growth route to enhance the light extraction efficiency of Bi 4 Ge 3 O 12 (BGO) crystal scintillator. The light output results demonstrate that the light extraction efficiency of BGO with ZnO NRs is significantly enhanced, with an enhancement ratio of 4.1 and 3.5 at 510 nm wavelength under 266 nm laser and X-ray excitation, respectively. Our numerically calculated light transmissivity spectra and electric field intensity distributions of BGO with and without ZnO NRs by finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulation reveal that the ZnO NRs could reduce the total internal reflection and allow more light to be extracted, resulted in the enhancement of light output of BGO. • BGO with ZnO nanorods modifications yields a significant enhancement of light output. • The enhancement of light output in wide wavelength and angle ranges is demonstrated. • The mechanism of light extraction is revealed by numerical simulations.

Optimization of photonic crystal structure by FDTD method to improve the light extraction efficiency in silicon

Silicon photonics technology is on its last hurdle to complete the system with active research on enhancing the light extraction efficiency of silicon. Silicon has a very poor radiative emission efficiency due to its indirect bandgap, thus making the probability of radiative recombination to be very low. The periodic quantum confinement structures such as photonic crystals (PhCs) can be tailored to increase the radiative recombination probability at the desired wavelengths. In this paper, we have optimized the silicon photonic crystal (Si PhCs) parameters to obtain luminescence at silicon bandgap and telecommunication wavelength using FDTD method. The extraction of photons is mostly conquered in the silicon structure that has lattice constant, a: 480 nm with radius, r: 140 nm and a: 500 nm with r: 160 nm. We have also observed the emissive photon luminescence that emerges in the most stable state of optical communication wavelength at 1310 nm.

Performance improvement of InGaN-based multiple quantum wells embedded nanoporous n-GaN layers

InGaN-based multiple quantum wells (MQWs) embedded nanoporous (NP) GaN layers were fabricated by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) and followed by electrochemical (EC) etching in oxalic, HF or HNO3 electrolytes. The oxalic-etching and HF-etching do not lead to enhanced luminescence of MQWs, which should be contributed to the damage of InGaN/GaN stacking layers. For the HNO3-etching, the photoluminescence (PL) strength of MQW layer is increased by a factor of 0.52 compared with the as-grown sample, which should be contributed to stress relaxation, light scattering and reflection of quasi vertical nanopore array, and amplify spontaneous emission by resonant cavity. If the nanopore walls in NP-GaN layer are smoothed by the annealing in NH3 atmosphere, the light extraction efficiency of MQWs can be further improved. The study provides a useful method for improving the light extraction efficiency of GaN-based light emitting devices.

Nanostructuration of YAG:Ce Coatings by ZnO Nanowires: A Smart Way to Enhance Light Extraction Efficiency.

In this study, we report on the enhancement of the light extraction efficiency of sol–gel-derived Y3Al5O12:Ce3+ (YAG:Ce) coatings using ZnO nanowire (NW) arrays. The ZnO NWs were grown by hydrothermal synthesis from a ZnO seed layer directly deposited on a YAG:Ce coating. Highly dense and vertically aligned ZnO NW arrays were evidenced on the top of the YAG:Ce coating by electron microscopy. A photoluminescence study showed that this original design leads to a different angular distribution of light together with an increase in emission efficiency of the YAG:Ce coating upon blue excitation, up to 60% more efficient compared to a non-structured YAG:Ce coating (without NWs). These improvements are ascribed to multi-scattering events for photons within the structure, allowing them to escape from the phosphor layer by taking optical paths different from those of the non-structured coating. This strategy of light extraction enhancement appears to be very promising, since it uses soft chemical processes and cheap ZnO NWs and is applicable to any sol–gel-derived luminescent coating.

Toward high-bandwidth yellow-green micro-LEDs utilizing nanoporous distributed Bragg reflectors for visible light communication

In this study, high − 3 dB bandwidth yellow-green InGaN/GaN micro-LEDs grown on polar c-plane GaN substrates are realized by using nanoporous distributed Bragg reflectors, which can increase light extraction efficiency and serve as strain-relaxed buffers to mitigate the quantum-confined Stark effect, resulting in improved external quantum efficiency. Moreover, atomic layer deposition technology is introduced for surface defect passivation, thereby reducing the leakage current. As a result, the device exhibits the highest − 3 dB bandwidth up to 442 MHz and a data transmission rate of 800 Mbit/s at a current density of 2.5 kA / cm 2 with on–off keying modulation, and holds great promise for future high-speed visible light communication applications.

Appearance Design Method of Smart Street Lamp Based on Kansei Engineering

In order to improve the scientificity of the appearance design of smart street lamps, this paper studies the appearance design method of smart street lamps combined with Kansei engineering so as to improve the appearance design effect of street lamps. Moreover, this paper optimizes the design of free-form surface optical light distribution, microlens array to improve the light extraction efficiency of high-power smart street lamps, and the heat dissipation structure of lamps. In addition, in view of the shortcoming that the direct design of free-form surface lenses for smart street lamps is not widely applicable, this paper proposes the concept of integration of microlens array packaging for smart street lamps. Finally, this paper verifies that the intelligent street lamp design based on Kansei engineering meets the lighting needs through experimental research. Through the experimental evaluation, it can be seen that the appearance design method of smart street lamps based on Kansei engineering proposed in this paper can effectively improve the structural performance of street lamps.

Tripling the light extraction efficiency of a deep ultraviolet LED using a nanostructured p-contact

Despite a wide array of applications, deep ultra-violet light emitting diodes offer relatively poor efficiencies compared to their optical counterparts. A contributing factor is the lower light extraction efficiency due to both highly absorbing p-contacts and total internal reflection. Here, we propose a structure consisting of a hexagonal periodic array of cylindrical nanoholes in the multi-layered p-contact which are filled with platinum. This nanostructure reduces the absorption of the p-contact layer, leading to a higher emission into the n-contact compared to a planar reference. An optimum geometry of the nanostructure allows a light extraction efficiency of 15.0%, much higher than the typical 4.6% of a planar reference. While the nanostructure strongly decreases the light absorption in the p-contact, it is still not able to considerably reduce the total internal reflection. Consequently, the nanostructured p-contact should be combined with other optical strategies, such as nanopatterned sapphire substrates to increase the efficiency even further. Despite this, the nanostructure described in this work provides a readily realizable path to enhancing the light extraction efficiency of state-of-the-art deep ultra-violet light emitting diodes.

Microdisk-Type Multicolor Semipolar Nitride-Based Light-Emitting Diodes

Recently, III-nitride semiconductors have gained immense attention for application in high-performance optoelectronic devices. However, in the device fabrication process, it is essential to develop a wet-etching process for conventional polar nitride-based devices to reduce the dry-etching damage. In this study, semipolar microdisk (MD)-type light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are fabricated using only a wet-etching process. The wet-etching rate of the n-type GaN film is the highest, followed by those of the undoped and p-type GaN films. The n- and p-type GaN films exhibit upward and downward surface-band-bending heights, respectively, because of which they can easily attract and repel OH– to form Ga2O3. In addition, the fully wet-etched MD-LED shows high light extraction efficiency from the etched nanofacets because of the increase in the escape cone angle with low etching damage. The smaller diameters of the MD-LEDs result in shorter emission wavelengths, allowing multicolor emission ranging from the violet (∼420 nm) to amber (∼620 nm) wavelengths to be achieved on a single LED wafer. Thus, monolithic multicolor emissions and increased light output power are achieved by fabricating parallel-connected MD-LED arrays using only a wet-etching process.

The impacts of sidewall passivation via atomic layer deposition on GaN-based flip-chip blue mini-LEDs

In order to investigate the photoelectric characteristics of 80 × 120 µm2 mini-light-emitting-diodes (mini-LEDs) with sidewall passivation by atomic layer deposition (ALD), this paper uses the techniques of spectrometer-based spectroradiometer and microscopic hyperspectral imaging (µ-HSI). The temperature-dependent electroluminescence is measured using a spectrometer-based spectroradiometer. By analyzing the rising parts of external quantum efficiency at room temperature with a two-level model, the difference of physical mechanisms between mini-LEDs with ALD and without ALD are determined. In addition, the thermal quenching indicates that the ALD sidewall passivation can enhance the temperature stability of the mini-LEDs. The ALD sidewall passivation also enhances the light extraction efficiency according to the theoretical calculation of transmittance. Moreover, the µ-HSI technique is used to evaluate different local areas of mini-LEDs. The obtained results reveal the optimization on lateral distribution of current density within the chip after sidewall passivation.

Enhancement of Light Extraction Efficiency of UVC-LED by SiO2 Antireflective Film

In order to achieve high quantum efficiency of AlGaN-based deep ultraviolet light-emitting diodes (UVC-LED), it is important to improve the light extraction efficiency (LEE). In this paper, theoretical simulation and experiment of SiO2 anti-reflective film deposited on UVC-LED were investigated. The effect of different SiO2 thickness on the light extraction efficiency of 275 nm UVC-LED was studied, showing that 140 nm SiO2 anti-reflective film can effectively improve the light output power of UVC-LED by more than 5.5%, which were also confirmed by the TFCALC simulation. The enhancement of UVC-LED light extraction efficiency by this antireflective film is mainly due to the 3λ2 light coherent effect at the SiO2/Al2O3 interface. Our work proved the promising application of antireflective coating on UVC-LED.

Three dimensional truncated-hexagonal-pyramid vertical InGaN-based white light emitting diodes based on β-Ga2O3.

In this Letter, we describe the fabrication of three dimensional (3D) truncated-hexagonal-pyramid (THP) vertical light emitting diodes (VLEDs) with white emission grown on β-Ga2O3 substrate. In the 3D n-GaN layer, it is noted that the longitudinal growth rate of the 3D n-GaN layer increases as the flow rate of N2 decreases and H2 increases. Moreover, the 3D THP VLED can effectively suppress the quantum-confined Stark effect (QCSE) compared with planar VLEDs due to the semipolar facets and strain relaxation. Thus, the internal quantum efficiency (IQE) of the 3D THP VLED has been doubled and the V-shaped pits have been greatly reduced. In particular, the 3D THP VLED enables multi-wavelength emission (448.0 nm and 498.5 nm) and also shows better light extraction efficiency (LEE), which presents an effective way for the realization of phosphor-free white LED devices.

Accurate optical optimization of light-emitting diodes with consideration of coupling between Purcell factor and transmittance coefficient.

The calculation method for light emission efficiency splits external quantum efficiency (EQE) into internal quantum efficiency (IQE) and light extraction efficiency (LEE) independently. Consequently, the IQE connected to Purcell factor and the LEE are calculated separately. This traditional method ignores the interplays between the Purcell factor and transmittance coefficient in spectral domain, which all strongly depend on emitting directions. In this work, we propose a new figure of merit to describe the light emission process accurately by using the direction-dependent Purcell factor and transmittance coefficient simultaneously. We use a specific LED structure as a numerical example to illustrate the calculation method and optimization procedure.

Design of inclined omni-directional reflector for sidewall-emission-free micro-scale light-emitting diodes

Micro-scale light emitting diode (µLED) reduces the front self-luminous display area by orders of magnitude, which brings the increase of sidewall emission and the resulting crosstalk between adjacent sub-pixels of displays. Reflector coating on the µLED’s sidewall is effective for the collection and utilization of side emission light. However, the existing multilayer periodic dielectric mirrors are undesirable for all angular reflection. In this paper, an omni-directional reflector (ODR) is designed for the µLED display pixel to effectively utilize light leakage from the sidewall emission and improve the total light extraction efficiency (LEE). The designed ODR is insensitive to the angular distribution of the incident light, and has the capability to reflect the light reaching the µLED’s sidewall into the escape cone for front emission. By introducing the two-dimensional finite-difference time-domain method, the µLED laminated structure is established to analyze the sidewall emission with an optimal inclination angle. By introducing the ODR for the inclined µLED pixel, the overall LEE can be increased by 2.24 times and the sidewall emission is reduced by 99.6% compared with conventional vertical µLEDs. Simulation and experimental results are in good agreement. The proposed ODR is expected to achieve the increase of LEE and sidewall-emission-free µLED displays.