A p-side-up GaN/mirror/Si light-emitting diode (LED) for vertical current injection has been fabricated by laser lift-off and wafer bonding techniques. A variety of metallic mirrors (Au, Al, and Ag) were chosen to improve the optical reflectivity and contact resistance with n-GaN. The GaN/mirror/Si LED with a silver mirror achieved a maximum luminance intensity of 45 mcd (20 mA) with a low forward voltage of 3.5 V. This luminance intensity is over two times that of the original planar GaN/sapphire LED. Under high current injection, the GaN/mirror(Ag)/Si LED also showed a more stable emission wavelength than the planar GaN/sapphire LED. This can be explained by the fact that the Si substrate provides a good heat sink and alleviates the joule heating problem. On the basis of these results, the p-side-up structure confirms the possibility of the simultaneous realization of a lower contact resistance and higher reflectivity for GaN/mirror/Si LEDs.

We describe the microstructure and optical properties of near-ultraviolet InGaN-GaN light-emitting diodes (LEDs) fabricated onto conventional and patterned sapphire substrates (PSSs) using metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. The PSS LED with an optimized hole depth (1.5 µm) shows an improvement of the room-temperature photoluminescence intensity by one order of magnitude compared with that of the conventional LED. As much as a 63% increased light emission intensity of the PSS LED was obtained at a forward current of 20 mA. For a typical lamp-form PSS LED (at 20 mA), the output power and external quantum efficiency were estimated to be 10.4 mW and 14.1%, respectively. The increase of the output power could be partly due to the improvement of the internal quantum efficiency upon decreasing the dislocation density, which was further confirmed by the transmission-electron-microscopy and etch-pit-density studies for the GaN-on-PSS samples. Moreover, the emitted light scattering at the GaN/PSS interface could also contribute to the enhancement of light extraction efficiency.

In this study, p-side-up GaN-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with textured indium-tin oxide (ITO) or silicon dioxide (SiO 2 ) surface layers were investigated by natural lithography using polystyrene spheres (PSs) as an etching mask. It was found that the ITO top layer provides better roughness than SiO 2 . Under the optimum surface treatment parameter, the roughnesses of textured ITO and SiO 2 surface layers are 140 nm and 15 nm, respectively. The diameter of PSs in the textured ITO surface is still maintained at about 250-300 nm. Correspondingly, the size of PSs in the SiO 2 surface is reduced to about 100 nm. The output powers of LEDs with textured ITO and SiO 2 surfaces and conventional LEDs are 10.9, 9.5, and 8.5 mW at 20 mA, respectively. LEDs fabricated using the textured ITO surface produced an output power that exceeded that of planarsurface LEDs by about 28% at 20 mA dc current.

The flip-chip light emitting diodes (FC-LEDs) with triple roughened surfaces were fabricated comprising top surface sapphire textured layer, interface patterned sapphire layer, and bottom naturally textured p-GaN layer. Light extraction efficiency was enhanced by such triple textured layers. The light output power of FC-LEDs was increased 60% (at 350 mA current injection) compared to that of conventional FC-LEDs by implementing the triple roughened surfaces. The enhancement efficiency can be simulated and the simulated results showed the same trend as the results of experiment.

GaN-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with naturally formed nano pyramids roughened surfaces grown by metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) were demonstrated. In this study, Mg-treatment, a growth-interruption step and a surface treatment using biscyclopentadienyl magnesium (CP 2 Mg), was performed to form the nano pyramids on the surface of a p-type cladding layer, and then a p-type contact layer was grown on the p-type cladding layer, so as to create a p-type contact layer with a rough surface. Assisted by the nano pyramids surface roughening process, the light output power of the LEDs reached 11.3 and 9.7 mW with 10 and 5 min Mg-treatment at a driving current of 20 mA. The light outputs were increased by 48 and 27%, respectively, compared with the results from the LED without Mg-treatment.