ECE 475 - Lecture 15

March 6, 2025

• Almost all commercially important LEDs are constructed using elements from columns III and V

of the periodic taable

– Often called III-V semiconductors

– Binary and ternary (three element) alloys are also used

1 A Summary of main LED systems

• GaAs: The first ”optoelectronic” material, led to the first semiconductor laser (1962)

• GaAs1−x Px

– Bandgap increases with increasing x

– Direct bandgap in the red

– Nitrogen doping (electron donor) enables green, yellow, and orange emission from indirect

bandgap alloys

– Low ηIQE , but popular for low-cost, low-brightness applications, e.g. remote controls, indicator

lamps, etc

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 – irst efficient LED (1962)

• In1−x Gax As1−y Py

– With careful choice of x and y, lattice matching is possible over a wide range of bandgap

energies

– Popular as infrared LED material

– λ0 = 1300 nm sources for short-haul, moderate bit-rate fiber communication systems

– Remote controls

• Alx Ga1−x As

– Lattice matched to GaAs for all x

– High brightness red LEDs possible

– Limited operational lifetime often a concern due to oxidation of alloys with high Al content

• (Alx Ga1−x )0.5 In0.5 P

– Lattice matched to GaAs for x < 0.53

– High intensity red/amber/yellow LEDs

– Ga0 .5In0 .5P is popular for red lasers (laser pointers, DVD systems, etc)

– Material of choice for high-brightness LEDs in red/orange/yellow, e.g. traffice lights, lighting,

etc

• Alx Iny Ga1−x−y N

– The nitride-based LEDs are newcomers that have enabled a revolution in LED-based lighting

applications

– Practical applications were enabled by technology to grow GaN base layers on Sapphire

(Al2 O3 ) substrates (early 1990s)

– Inx Ga1−x N is the material of choice for high-brightness LEDs in the near-UV, blue, and green

(366 nm ≤ λ0 ≤ 580 nm)

– Alx Ga1−x N alloys are sometimes used for UV LEDs

– Can be used with phosphors to generate white light

– Technologies for lattice mismatched growth of GaN-on-Al2 O3 were developed by Shuji Nakamura

at Nichia Semiconductors in the 1990s

– Achieving blue LEDs required techniques for doping these materials, especially p-type

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2 Photoluminescence and Phosphors

• A phosphor is a material that emits light after excitation by an ”energetic beam” such as EM

radiation or electrons

– This type of light is called luminescence

• Typically, light is emitted by dopants/impurities/defects, called ”luminescent centers,” purposely

introducted into a host material, e.g. a crystalline or glassy material

We can define different types of luminescence:

– Photoluminescence: Light emitted by a doped material following absorption of other light

– Cathodoluminescence: Light emitted following excitation by energetic electrons, i.e. a ”cath-

ode ray” beam

– Electroluminescence: Light emitted due to the application of an electric field, e.g. injection

electroluminescence in an LED

– Fluorescence: ”Short-lived” PL. Typically decays within ns after the excitation is removed

– Phosphorescence: ”Long-lived” PL

• The typical physics of a luminescent center (LC) are illustrated below:

• The LC center has at least three energy ”levels” (mini-bands) that are impacted by the host matrix

to some extent

– Light at hνex is absorbed by the LC/host, causing E1 → E2 excitation

– Following a non-radiative decay (E2 − E2′ ), then radiative decay (E2′ − E1′ ), lower frequency

light, hνem , is emitted

hνem = E2′ − E1′ < hνex = E2 − E1

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 – The down-shift in light frequency is called a ”Stokes” shift

– For some LCs, E1 and E1′ are the same energy state, this is called a ”three level system”

• Phosphors have been used widely in modern technology, e.g. for UV to visible conversion in

fluorescent lights, and color televisions (CRTs)

• Most modern phophors employ rare-earth atoms as luminescent centers. Yitrium-Aluminum-

Garnet (YAG) hosts are of great importance

• Some of the first and most inexpensive ”white-light” LEDs employ a blue-emitting LED chap

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 (InGaN) and a blue-to-yellow phosphor (Cerium doped YAG; YAG:CE3+ )

– The mix of blue and yellow produces light that is ”white-ish” to the eye

– High quality room lighting increasingly relies on more sophisticated LED/phosphor combina-

tions

Notes

• Full coverage of the visible spectrum was made possible by blue/green nitride-based LEDs, starting

in 1990s

– LED luminous efficiency now exceeds 200 lm/W, much better than fluorescent bulbs

– Even better than ”yellow” sodium-vapour street lights!

– Full-color large-scale displays (Times Square, Tokyo, etc) are enabled by combining bright/efficient

RGB LEDs

• LED chips are constructed of many epitaxial layers, and might include

– Mirror layers

– Layers to control/optimize lateral current profile

– Active layers, often multiple quantum wells (MQW)

– Traditional low-cost, low-brightness LED chips (indicator lights, remotes, etc) might have a

junction area < 10−4 cm−2 and operate at currents of ∼ 50 mA, i.e. J = 100 A/cm2

– High-brightness LEDs (lighting, displays, etc) might have areas ∼ 100× larger, i.e. A ≈ 1 mm2

and operate at I > 1 A, J = 100 − 1000 A/cm2

• White-light LED lamps

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 Figure 1: Source: Kitai, Ch 6

– Packaging of these lamps includes:

∗ Heat sinking - Significant heat can be generate at high drive currents. Heat management

is important to extend lamp operation

∗ Phosphor plate to provide good quality white light

∗ Silicone lens/encasement. Silicone ages better than epoxy under high light/heat exposure

• The ”Green Gap”

– The green gap refers to poor quantum efficiency in the green spectral range where the human

eye response peaks

∗ Peak sensitivity is around 550 nm

∗ Nitride LEDs are efficient for UV/Blue emisison while phospannotate LEDs are efficient

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 for red/IR

– Even high luminous efficiencies (> 200 lm/W) will be possible if higher efficiency LED λ0 =

550 nm LEDs are developed