A truncated-inverted-pyramid (TIP) chip geometry provides substantial improvement in light extraction efficiency over conventional AlGaInP/GaP chips of the same active junction area (∼0.25 mm2). The TIP geometry decreases the mean photon path-length within the crystal, and thus reduces the effects of internal loss mechanisms. By combining this improved device geometry with high-efficiency multiwell active layers, record-level performance for visible-spectrum light-emitting diodes is achieved. Peak efficiencies exceeding 100 lm/W are demonstrated (100 mA dc, 300 K) for orange-emitting (λp∼610 nm) devices, with a peak luminous flux of 60 lumens (350 mA dc, 300 K). In the red wavelength regime (λp∼650 nm), peak external quantum efficiencies of 55% and 60.9% are measured under direct current and pulsed operation, respectively (100 mA, 300 K).

Improvement of 1.4× in the external quantum efficiency and luminous efficiency (lm/W) of transparent-substrate (AlxGa1−x)0.5In0.5P/GaP light-emitting diodes is demonstrated. The improvement is accomplished by reducing the thickness of the active layer to ⩽2000 Å and increasing the internal quantum efficiency by using multiple thin (⩽500 Å) active layers. The maximum luminous efficiency achieved is 73.7 lm/W at λp∼615 nm and the maximum external quantum efficiency is 32.0% at λp∼632 nm.