Properties Of InGaN-based Light-emitting Diodes Research Articles

InGaN-based light-emitting diodes grown on various aspect ratios of concave nanopattern sapphire substrate

This study presented the optoelectronic properties of InGaN-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs) grown on nanoscale-patterned sapphire substrates (NPSSs) with various aspect ratio (AR) concave nanopatterns. Concave nanopatterns with low ARs of ∼0.5 (LAR-NPSS) and high ARs of 2, 3 and 4 (HAR-NPSS) were achieved using an anodic aluminum oxide template as the dry etching mask. The diffuse transmission (DT) rate of the incident light wavelength at 450 nm increased linearly, from 2.2% for LAR-NPSS to 12.7% for HAR-NPSS with an AR of 4. However, the diffuse reflection (DR) rate for HAR-NPSS did not increase linearly with the increasing AR values. The limit of the DR rate for HAR-NPSS could be attributed to the guiding effect when the incident light entered into the high AR concave nanopattern; most of the incident light could not be reflected (returned to the air), therefore there was no significant contribution to the DR rate. The luminous intensities of LEDs grown on bare sapphire (B-LED), HAR-NPSS (HAR-LED) and LAR-NPSS (LAR-LED) were 39, 38 and 74 mcd, respectively. Interestingly, the lowest brightness of any LED was the HAR-LED, which had higher DT and DR rates. This significant discrepancy could be attributed to a large number of voids occurring at the initial growth stage of the LED epitaxial layer on the HAR-NPSS that caused the emitted photons to remain trapped inside the LED. In addition, increasing the LED epilayer coverage area (i.e. 1.6-fold) with the inclined facets of low AR concave nanopatterns effectively scattered the emitted photons, leading to an increased light emitting intensity of the LED. The experimental results indicated that the specific AR concave nanopattern of an NPSS could increase the LED epitaxial layer coverage area and prevent void formation, which plays a crucial role in achieving high-brightness in InGaN-based LEDs.

Separation of effects of InGaN/GaN superlattice on performance of light-emitting diodes using mid-temperature-grown GaN layer

We evaluated the electrical properties of InGaN-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with a superlattice (SL) layer or a mid-temperature-grown GaN (MT-GaN) layer just beneath the multiple quantum wells (MQWs). Both the SL layer and the MT-GaN layer were effective in improving the electroluminescence (EL) intensity. However, the SL layer had a more pronounced effect on the EL intensity than did the MT-GaN layer. Based on a comparison with devices with an MT-GaN layer, the overall effects of the SL could be separated into the effect of the V-pits and the structural or compositional effect of the SL. It was observed that the V-pits formed account for 30% of the improvement in the LED performance while the remaining 70% can be attributed to the structural or compositional effect of the SL.

Effects of Asymmetric Quantum Wells on the Structural and Optical Properties of InGaN-Based Light-Emitting Diodes.

A metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy-grown InGaN/GaN multiple-quantum-well (MQW) with three graded-thickness wells (the first-grown well had the greatest width) near the n-GaN was used as the active layer of an LED. For LEDs with an asymmetric quantum well (AQW), high-resolution X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopic reveal that the modified MQWs with a reasonable crystalline quality were coherently strained on the underlying GaN epilayers without any relaxation. In addition, the slight increase of indium segregation in the LED with an AQW may be attributed to variations in indium contents experienced during epitaxial growth of the wide well-containing MQWs. By preventing the energetic electrons from accumulating at the topmost quantum well nearest the p-GaN, the presence of light intensity roll-off in the LED with an AQW is shifted to higher currents and the corresponding maximum light output power is increased with a ratio 7.9% higher than that of normal LEDs. Finally, similar emission wavelengths were observed in the electroluminescence spectra of both LEDs, suggesting that light emitted mostly from the top quantum wells (near the p-GaN) while the emissions from the AQW region were insignificant.

Radiative recombination process in InGaN active layers of GaN-based light emitting diodes

We present a theoretical analysis of radiative recombination process in active layers of blue/green InGaN-based light emitting diodes (LEDs) in the framework of a quantum disk model. Taking the structural and compositional inhomogeneity and the finite subband-states effects into account we modify the optical absorption and energy relaxation equations for quantum-disk systems. The carrier relaxation dynamic process and related time-dependent photoluminescence spectra are calculated numerically. Our results show that the quantum-disk model can interpret the main optical properties of InGaN-based LEDs reasonably.