Light Extraction Efficiency Research Articles

Enhanced light extraction efficiency of micropixel geometry AlGaN DUV light-emitting diodes

We report a 1.8 times improved light extraction efficiency for truncated cone AlGaN DUV (275 nm emission) micropixel LEDs when the pixel size was reduced from 90 to 5 μm. This is a direct consequence of reducing the re-absorption of sideways-travelling photons, as the lateral absorption length was measured to be 15 μm using cathodoluminescence. We also investigated the effect of an Al2O3/Al sidewall coating on the device performance which led to an on-wafer pulsed-mode brightness of 10.3 kW cm−2 from a single 5 μm truncated cone micropixel.

Control of localized surface plasmon resonance of Ag nanoparticles by changing its size and morphology

Ag thin-films with thicknesses of 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 nm are deposited by thermal vacuum evaporation, and the obtained films are subsequently annealed at 400 °C for 1 h to form the Ag nanoparticles (NPs). The averaged diameters of the resultant Ag NPs are increased from 50 to 300 nm as increasing the initial Ag deposition thickness, according to the morphological observation using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The significant red-shift of the extinction peak depending on the particle size of the Ag NPs, which can be assigned to the localized surface plasmon resonance of the Ag NPs. The organic emitter, tris(8-hydroxyquinolinato)aluminum (Alq3) film is overcoated on the Ag NPs. About 4-fold enhancement of the photoluminescence of Alq3 was observed in combination with the larger size Ag NPs fabricated from the 15–25 nm thick Ag films, which can be applied for the improvement of the light-extraction efficiency of the organic light-emitting devices.

Enhanced Light Extraction Efficiency (LEE) of GaN-based LED Die through Substrate Side Surface Grooving

High refractive index difference between GaN-based light-emitting diode (LED) die material and surrounding medium causes low light extraction efficiency. Introduction of surface grooves to sapphire substrate side surfaces improves the light extraction efficiency of GaN-based LED die6 by altering the normal for the impinging light rays inside the substrate layer. Comparison of light output power given out by GaN-based LED die with grooved sapphire substrate and un-grooved sapphire substrate were studied using ray-tracing simulation. Three types of surface grooves at different aspect ratios were simulated which includes elliptical groove, triangular groove and rectangular groove. Based on the results obtained, GaN-based LED die with elliptically grooved sapphire substrate gives the best enhancement in light output power by 121.2426% compared to an un-grooved GaN-based LED die at an aspect ratio of 0.05. Surface grooves with curvature or angled plane gives a better enhancement in light extraction efficiency compared to a flat surface.

Lambertian Extraction of Light from Organic Light-Emitting Devices Using Randomly Dispersed Sub-Wavelength Pillar Arrays.

A simple light extraction method is reported to minimize the variation in emission spectrum with viewing angle by embedding a light extraction layer, consists of randomly dispersed nano-pillars on a substrate. Nano-imprint lithography technique was employed to fabricate the nano-pillars using ultra-violet curable acrylate. An organic light emitting diode device employing the imprint technology showed 46% enhancement in light extraction efficiency in the forward direction with Lambertian emission pattern and no color change with viewing angle. Moreover, the emitted light does not show any specific periodic patterns.

Extraction efficiency simulation in deep ultraviolet AlGaN light emitting diodes

A ray tracing model is developed to study the light extraction efficiency (LEE) of the nitride wide band gap semiconductor deep ultraviolet light emitting diodes (DUV-LEDs). The basic device structure is flip-chip LED device with dome shape encapsulation. Various device parameters such as reflecting p-metal, absorption coefficient of the AlN layer, sapphire surface roughness etc have been examined. We have found that the transparency of the AlGaN/AlN epitaxial layers as well as the encapsulation material play key roles in improving the LEE and spatial intensity distribution. To verify the transparency of the epi-layers, highly doped n-type Al\(_{0.61}\)Ga\(_{0.39}\)N on AlN template are grown on sapphire substrate by high-temperature metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (HT-MOCVD), then the crystal and optical properties are measured and analyzed. The calculated the absorption coefficient of the AlN is below 10\(^{3}\)cm\(^{-1}\), which paves the way to achieve high extraction efficiency DUV LEDs.

Optimized Aluminum Reflector for Enhancement of UVC Cathodoluminescence Based-AlGaN Materials with Carbon Nanotube Field Emitters.

The far ultraviolet C (UVC) light sources based on carbon nanotube (CNT) field emitters as excitation sources have become promising light sources for sterilization, disinfection, and water purification. However, the low light extraction efficiency of UVC–CNT light sources still hinders the practical application of these structures. Herein, we report an optimized aluminum (Al) reflector to enhance the light extraction efficiency of UVC–CNT light sources. Optical analysis of UVC-CNT light sources covered by the Al reflectors with various thicknesses ranging from 30 to 150 nm was performed to realize the optimized reflector. The UVC-CNT light sources exhibit the highest light extraction efficiency when the Al reflector layer has an optimized thickness of 100 nm. For comparison, the cathodoluminescence (CL) spectra were recorded for UVC–CNT light sources with and without the optimized Al reflector. The measured light output power and the estimated power efficiency of the UVC–CNT light-source-tube with Al reflector were enhanced by about 27 times over the reference. This enhancement is mainly attributed to the outstanding reflection effect of the Al reflector.

Significantly boosted external quantum efficiency of AlGaN-based DUV-LED utilizing thermal annealed Ni/Al reflective electrodes

Improvement of light extraction efficiency of deep ultraviolet light-emitting-diodes (DUV-LEDs) was obtained by adopting a Ni/Al reflective electrode. Optical reflectivity up to 78.1% at 277 nm was achieved. The enhanced reflectivity after thermal annealing was ascribed to the formation of Ni clusters embedded inside the Al matrix as revealed by the correlation between the surface morphology and chemical stoichiometry. The peak external quantum efficiency of a 277 nm DUV-LED incorporating annealed Ni/Al reflective electrodes reaches 3.03%, which is 44% higher than that with conventional Ni/Au p-electrodes, revealing itself as a promising candidate in the realization of high-efficiency DUV emitters.

Enhanced light extraction efficiency via double nano-pattern arrays for high-efficiency deep UV LEDs

This work reports on the packaging structure of double-layer nano-pattern arrays (NPAs) for AlGaN-based deep ultraviolet (DUV) light-emitting diodes (LEDs), which can significantly enhance the light extraction efficiency (LEE), a major device performance bottleneck. The double-layer NPAs were fabricated on the surface of the flip-chip DUV LED by etching sapphire and coating the fluoropolymer resin, which can alleviate the total internal reflection (TIR) at the top interfaces and enhance light extraction on sidewalls, leading to the great improvement of both TE and TM-polarized light. As a result, the 273 nm DUV LED with double-layer NPAs realized 28.3% enhancement in light output power (LOP) compared with the reference device without the NPA at large current of 100 mA. High peak external quantum efficiency (EQE) and wall-plug efficiency (WPE) of 5.19% and 4.38% were demonstrated, respectively. Combined with the finite element analysis (FEA), it is further confirmed that the double-layer NPAs have higher external coupling efficiency to enhance LEE. The proposed LEE enhancement strategy comes from the combination of nanostructured materials and packaging technology, which is cost-effective and meets mass production, providing efficient value in practical applications of UV devices.

Manipulation of the Optical Properties of Colloidal 2D CdSe Nanoplatelets

Driven by the unique optoelectronic features arising from the strong quantum confinement along the thickness direction, rapid development of CdSe‐based nanoplatelets (NPL) has accomplished facile bandgap tunability over a broad spectrum via different preparation protocols or various postsynthesis treatments. The anisotropic geometry of NPLs also stimulates the exploitation of self‐assembled CdSe NPL superstructures to enhance light extraction efficiency in display technologies and achieves polarized lasing performance or even electrically pumped laser by adjusting the transition dipole orientation. Although several review articles about the general optical properties of CdSe NPLs have been published, none of them focus on the ability of spectral tunability and precise control of orientations in the solid‐state phase of CdSe NPLs. Herein, the band structure engineering approaches in the CdSe NPL family are systematically summarized and the optical properties and device performance metrics of these deliberately engineered NPLs are compared. Then, the recent advanced studies of the motivation and assembly methods of geometrically anisotropic CdSe NPL superlattices are discussed. Finally, the current challenges and future outlook on the controlled modification of optical features and the influences of the approaches in the aspect of CdSe NPL–based devices’ performance are highlighted.

Lattice Constant Effect on Diffracted Transmission of ITO Periodic Nanostructures and Improvement of the Light Extraction Efficiency of Light-Emitting Diodes.

We studied the effects of the lattice pitch of indium-doped tin oxide (ITO) periodic nanostructures on the diffracted transmission to improve the light extraction efficiency of light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Periodic hexagonal ITO nanopillars with lattice constants of 600, 800, 1050, 1200, and 1600 nm were fabricated on ITO electrodes. We found that the light extraction efficiency strongly depended on the lattice constant. The LEDs with a lattice constant of 800 nm ITO nanopillars showed an increase in light extraction of 83%. In addition, their electrical properties were not degraded compared to conventional LEDs. The dependence of the extraction efficiency on the lattice constant was also calculated using a 3D finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method, and this dependence was in good agreement with the experimental measurements. The transmission of each diffraction order and with the total transmission of ITO nanopillars with different lattice constants were calculated using the FDTD method to investigate the enhancement effect.

Light extraction efficiency and internal quantum efficiency of fully UVC-transparent AlGaN based LEDs

The light extraction efficiency (LEE), external quantum efficiency (EQE), and current–voltage characteristics of deep ultraviolet light emitting diodes (DUV-LEDs) with different aluminum mole fractions in the p-AlGaN layers have been investigated. Optimizing the p-AlGaN layer composition requires a tradeoff between reducing the absorption losses and limiting the increases in the p-contact resistance and operation voltage. AlGaN multiple quantum well LEDs emitting around 263 nm with different AlGaN:Mg short period super lattices (p-SPSL) ranging from x = 33% (UV-absorbing) to x = 68% (UV-transparent) average aluminum mole fraction have been explored. DUV-LEDs with different p-contact metals and UV-reflectivities have been characterized by electroluminescence measurements and analyzed by ray-tracing simulations. The comparison shows an increased operating voltage and a five-fold increase of the on-wafer EQE with a maximum value of 3.0% for DUV-LEDs with UV-transparent p-SPSL (x = 68%) and UV-reflective indium contacts in comparison to LEDs with a UV-absorbing p-SPSL (x = 33%). Ray-tracing simulations show that the increase in EQE can be partially ascribed to a 2.5-fold improved LEE in combination with a two-fold increase in internal quantum efficiency.

Theoretically Enhance the Vertical Light Extraction Efficiency of the AlGaN-Based Nanowire Photonic Crystal Ultraviolet Light-Emitting Diodes by Selecting the Band Gap

Nanowire photonic crystal (PhC) structure is one of promising approaches to enhance vertical light extraction efficiency (LEE) of ultraviolet light emitting diodes (UV LEDs). There are lots of investigations to study the structure of nanowire UV LEDs by using the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. The optimal LEE are obtained by using some optimization algorithms. However, it needs a broad window, not the best values of geometrical parameters of nanowires in practical fabrication. In this paper, the vertical LEE of UV LEDs are theoretically enhanced by selecting the band gaps of AlGaN-based nanowire PhC structure. It illustrates that all the gaps can inhibit the horizontal propagation of light. However, the inhibiting ability of Gap 1 are weaker than them of Gap 2 and Gap 3. The reason is that the radii of nanowires in Gap 1 are too small to support enough guided modes. As a comparison, both Gap 2 and Gap 3 can efficiently inhibit the radiated mode propagation, and finally enhance the vertical LEE. In addition, the variations of height, number, and refractive index of nanowires on vertical LEE and optical band gaps are discussed. This work has benefits for the practical production of nanowire PhC UV LEDs.

Decreasing CCT deviation of white light emitting diodes by employing SiO2 nanoparticles

In this research, the SiO2 nano-particles (NPs) usage in enhancing optical performances of InGaN/GaN-based white light-emitting diodes (WLEDs) with remote phosphor structure. The research subject shows better lighting capacity than the white LEDs devices without the space between the layers. The adjustment in development process resulted in enhancements of internal quantum efficiency (IQE) and light extraction efficiency (LEE) that lead to 13.5% luminous efficacy improvement. From the experiments, it can be concluded that the LEE is affected by the trapped light and enhancing the light output with SiO2 scattering properties reduce the amount of trapped light. These results confirm that SiO2 nano-particles is effective in enhancing the optical performance of WLEDs and can be considered for production of higher quality devices.

Enhancing the Light Extraction Efficiency in Micro‐Organic Light‐Emitting Diodes with Metalens

Enhancing Luminescence Efficiency In article number 2000145, Haowen Liang and coworkers demonstrate that, by introducing the metalens, the trapped energy/light in micro-OLEDs can be converted into direct emission, leading the outcoupling efficiency of micro-OLEDs to be boosted to a high level, which is of potential for ultrahighpixel- density micro-displays required in emerging augmented reality (AR)/virtual reality (VR).

Effect of HfO2 Passivation Layer on Light Extraction Efficiency of AlInN Nanowire Ultraviolet Light-Emitting Diodes

Diverse applications of ultraviolet (UV) light in the field of purification, sterilization, detection, surface disinfection, sensing, and many others have been studied mostly on AlGaN light-emitting-diodes (LEDs). However, the external quantum efficiency (EQE) of AlGaN deep UV LEDs is limited due to strong induced polarization fields, high dislocation density, severe electron leakage, difficulty in p-type doping, low internal quantum efficiency (IQE), IQE droop, and low light extraction efficiency (LEE). Alternatively, AlInN semiconductor has been recently gained tremendous attention for high power UV LEDs [1-3]. Our group has successfully demonstrated the first AlInN core-shell nanowire UV LEDs with a relatively high IQE of ~52%[1]. However, the light extraction study of such nanowire LEDs is unexplored. In this context, we have studied the LEE of a single AlInN nanowire UV LED at 220 nm - 400 nm wavelength regime. Moreover, we report that the LEE of a single AlInN nanowire UV LED could be increased by ~60% using HfO2 passivation compared to conventional nanowire LED at 282 nm.The schematic structure of AlInN nanowire UV LED is shown in Figure 1(a). The nanowire is composed of 200 nm n-GaN, 100 nm n-AlxIn1-xN quantum barrier (QB)/40 nm i-AlyIn1-yN quantum well (QW)/100 nm p-AlxIn1-xN QB, and 20 nm p-GaN layer. We have estimated the LEE of nanowire LEDs using the finite difference time domain (FDTD) simulation method. Silicon (Si) is used as a substrate, and the n-GaN layer is tapered with a diameter from 70 nm (bottom) to 100 nm (top). The diameter is set to be 100 nm for the rest of the regions. We have placed a single TM-polarized dipole source at the QW center to calculate LEE for a nanowire LED in the simulations. The estimated LEE of 282 nm wavelength single nanowire AlInN UV LED with various HfO2 passivation layers thickness is provided in Figure 1(b). The LEE of such LED without any passivation is ~25.2%, whereas the maximum recorded LEE is ~40.6% with the utilization of 35nm thickness HfO2 passivation layer. This study provides a promising approach for enhancing the light extraction efficiency of nanowire UV LEDs. Reference R. T. Velpula, B. Jain, M. R. Philip, et al., Sci. Rep., 10(1) 2547-2556 (2020).R. T. Velpula, B. Jain, H.Q.T. Bui, et al., Opt. Mater. Express, 10(2), 472-483 (2020).B. Jain, R. T. Velpula, M. Tumuna, et al., Opt. Express, 28(15), 22908-22918 (2020). Figure 1

Light extraction enhancement in organic light-emitting diodes through polyimide/porous silica hybrid films

In this work, light extraction efficiency of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) with a spin-coated polyimide/porous silica hybrids were enhanced. The polyimide/porous silica thin films ( C1 and C2 ) were accomplished by spin coating a hybrid film composed of a polyimide-silica composite blended with various amount of porous silica nanoparticles into the opposite site of ITO glass. The optical, thermal, and morphology properties were controlled by adding various amount of porous silica. The incorporation of light extraction layer improved the maximum external quantum efficiency (EQE) by as much as 24.8% based on integrating sphere measurement condition when compared to that of a reference device without a light extraction layer. Furthermore, the device utilizing the light extraction layer showed identical EL spectra as the reference device did. Additionally, the optical emission distribution of the device was close to the Lambertian profile. The polyimide/porous silica hybrids demonstrated in this work are useful and efficient for OLED device for the enhancement of EL performance, indicating the potential in a wide range of applications, such as displays, lightings and so on. • The polyimide/porous silica light extraction films were accomplished by spin coating a hybrid film composed of a polyimide-silica composite blended with various amount of porous silica nanoparticles. • The incorporation of light extraction layer improved the maximum external quantum efficiency (EQE) by as much as 24.8%. • The device utilizing the light extraction layer showed identical EL spectra as the reference device did.

Effect of HfO2 Passivation Layer on Light Extraction Efficiency of AlInN Nanowire Ultraviolet Light-Emitting Diodes

One of the probable reasons behind the limitation of light extraction efficiency (LEE) in III-nitride nanowire (NW) deep ultraviolet (UV) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) is the presence of the high surface density states that significantly contribute to the non-radiative recombination near the surface. Herein, we investigate the LEE of a single AlInN NW UV LED in the entire UV wavelength regime using finite-difference time-domain simulations. It is found that these LEDs favor transverse-magnetic (TM) polarized LEE over transverse-electric (TE) polarized emission. Further, we examine the role of the HfO2 surface passivation layer in the improvement of LEE of AlInN NW LED at ~282 nm wavelength. Our results show that the TM-polarized LEE of such LED without any passivation is only ~25.2%, whereas the maximum recorded LEE is ~40.6% with the utilization of 40 nm HfO2 passivation layer. This study provides a promising approach for enhancing the LEE of NW UV LEDs.

Activation of buried p-GaN through nanopipes in large-size GaN-based tunnel junction LEDs

In GaN-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs), tunnel junctions offer a way of replacing the highly resistive p-type GaN (p-GaN) ohmic contact with a low-resistance n-GaN ohmic contact. However, the p-GaN would be re-passivated by hydrogen atoms during the subsequent growth of n-GaN in a metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) chamber. The n-GaN layer, acting as a hydrogen diffusion barrier, hinders the thermal activation of the underlying p-GaN. Here, we report a method to thermally activate the buried p-GaN in tunnel junction LED (TJ-LED) through vertically aligned nanopipe arrays across the top n-GaN layer, which provides a hydrogen outgassing passage. The fabrication of nanopipes is realized via inductive coupled plasma etching using a mask prepared by self-assembled nanosphere arrays. As a result, we attain large-size TJ-LED chips, exhibiting nearly equivalent p-GaN activation and superior light extraction compared to conventional LEDs. Specifically, the light extraction efficiency is boosted by 44% relative to conventional LEDs at an injection current density of 100 A cm−2.

Investigation of Photonic-Crystal-Structured p-GaN Nanorods Fabricated by Polystyrene Nanosphere Lithography Method to Improve the Light Extraction Efficiency of InGaN/GaN Green Light-Emitting Diodes

We fabricated the photonic-crystal-structured p-GaN (PC-structured p-GaN) nanorods using the modified polystyrene nanosphere (PS NS) lithography method for InGaN/GaN green light-emitting diodes (LEDs) to enhance the light extraction efficiency (LEE). A modified PS NS lithography method including two-times spin-coating processes and the post-spin-coating heating treatment was used to obtain a self-assembly close-packed PS NS array of monolayer as a mask and then a partially dry etching process was applied to PS NS, SiO2, and p-GaN to form PC-structured p-GaN nanorods on the InGaN/GaN green LEDs. The light output intensity and LEE of InGaN/GaN green LEDs with the PC-structured p-GaN nanorods depend on the period, diameter, and height of PC-structured p-GaN nanorods. RSoft FullWAVE software based on the three-dimension finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) algorithm was used to calculate the LEE of InGaN/GaN green LEDs with PC-structured p-GaN nanorods of the varied period, diameter, and height. The optimal period, diameter, and height of PC-structured p-GaN nanorods are 150, 350, and 110 nm. The InGaN/GaN green LEDs with optimal PC-structured p-GaN nanorods exhibit an enhancement of 41% of emission intensity under the driving current of 20 mA as compared to conventional LED.

Investigating the Effect of Ag and Au Nanostructures with Spherical and Rod Shapes on the Emission Wavelength of OLED

Noble metals, especially Ag and Au nanostructures, have unique and adjustable optical attributes in terms of surface plasmon resonance. In this research, the effect of Ag and Au nanoparticles with spherical and rod shapes on the light extraction efficiency and the FWHM of OLED structures was investigated using the finite difference time domain (FDTD) method. The simulation results displayed that by changing the shape and size of Ag and Au nanostructures, the emission wavelength can be adjusted, and the FWHM can be reduced. The presence of Ag and Au nanoparticles in the OLEDs showed a blue and red shift of the emission wavelength, respectively. Also, the Ag and Au nanorods caused a significant reduction in the FWHM and a shift to the longer wavelengths in the structures. The structures containing Ag nanorods showed the narrowest FWHM and longer emission wavelength than the other structures.