GaN-based micro-size light-emitting diode (μLED) have emerged as a promising light sources for a wide range of applications in displays, visible light communication etc. In parallel with the two key technological bottlenecks: full-color scheme and mass transfer technique that need overcoming, it is known that the low external quantum efficiency (EQE) is also another challenge for μLEDs from the perspective of manufacturing technology and device physics. The low EQE for GaN based μLEDs is opposite to the common belief for GaN-based LEDs, such that GaN based LEDs are featured with high quantum efficiency, mechanically robust and energy saving. Therefore, in this work, we have reviewed the origin for the low EQE for μLEDs. More importantly, we have also reported the underlying devices physics and proposed optimization strategies to boost the EQE for μLEDs. Our work is targeted to provide a guideline for the community to develop high-performance GaN-based μLEDs.

Owing to high surface-to-volume ratio, InGaN-based micro-light-emitting diodes (μLEDs) strongly suffer from surface recombination that is induced by sidewall defects. Moreover, as the chip size decreases, the current spreading will be correspondingly enhanced, which therefore further limits the carrier injection and the external quantum efficiency (EQE). In this work, we suggest reducing the nonradiative recombination rate at sidewall defects by managing the current spreading effect. For that purpose, we properly reduce the vertical resistivity by decreasing the quantum barrier thickness so that the current is less horizontally spreaded to sidewall defects. As a result, much fewer carriers are consumed in the way of surface nonradiative recombination. Our calculated results demonstrate that the suppressed surface nonradiative recombination can better favor the hole injection efficiency. We also fabricate the μLEDs that are grown on Si substrates, and the measured results are consistent with the numerical calculations, such that the EQE for the proposed μLEDs with properly thin quantum barriers can be enhanced, thanks to the less current spreading effect and the decreased surface nonradiative recombination.

Due to the increased surface-to-volume ratio, the surface recombination caused by sidewall defects is a key obstacle that limits the external quantum efficiency (EQE) for GaN-based micro-light-emitting diodes (µLEDs). In this work, we propose selectively removing the periphery p+-GaN layer so that the an artificially formed resistive ITO/p-GaN junction can be formed at the mesa edge. Three types of LEDs with different device dimensions of 30 × 30 µm2, 60 × 60 µm2 and 100 × 100 µm2 are investigated, respectively. We find that such resistive ITO/p-GaN junction can effectively prevent the holes from reaching the sidewalls for µLEDs with smaller size. Furthermore, such confinement of injection current also facilitates the hole injection into the active region for µLEDs. Therefore, the surface-defect-caused nonradiative recombination in the edge of mesa can be suppressed. Meantime, a reduction of current leakage caused by the sidewall defects can also be obtained. As a result, the measured and calculated external quantum efficiency (EQE) and optical output power for the proposed LED with small sizes are increased.

In this report, we propose GaN-based vertical cavity surface emitting lasers with a p-GaN/n-GaN/p-GaN (PNP-GaN) structured current spreading layer. The PNP-GaN current spreading layer can generate the energy band barrier in the valence band because of the modulated doping type, which is able to favor the current spreading into the aperture. By using the PNP-GaN current spreading layer, the thickness for the optically absorptive ITO current spreading layer can be reduced to decrease internal loss and then enhance the lasing power. Furthermore, we investigate the impact of the doping concentration, the thickness and the position for the inserted n-GaN layer on the lateral hole confinement capability, the lasing power, and the optimization strategy. Our investigations also report that the optimized PNP-GaN structure will suppress the thermal droop of the lasing power for our proposed VCSELs.

A better lateral current confinement is essentially important for GaN-based vertical-cavity-surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) to achieve lasing condition. Therefore, a buried insulator aperture is adopted. However, according to our results, we find that the current cannot be effectively laterally confined if the insulator layer is not properly selected, and this is because of the unique feature for GaN-based VCSELs grown on insulating substrates with both p-electrode and n-electrode on the same side. Our results indicate that the origin for the current confinement arises from lateral energy band bending in the p-GaN layer rather than the electrical resistivity for the buried insulator. The lateral energy band in the p-GaN layer can be more flattened by using a buried insulator with a properly larger dielectric constant. Thus, less bias can be consumed by the buried insulator, enabling better lateral current confinement. On the other hand, the bias consumption by the buried insulator is also affected by the insulator thickness, and we propose to properly decrease the insulator layer thickness for reducing the bias consumption therein and achieving better lateral current confinement. The improved lateral current confinement will correspondingly enhance the lasing power. Thanks to the enhanced lateral current confinement, the 3dB frequency will also be increased if proper buried insulators are adopted.