We fabricated three types of high luminous efficacy white light emitting diodes (LEDs). The first was a white LED with a high luminous efficacy (ηL) of 249 lm W−1 and a high luminous flux (ϕv) of 14.4 lm at a forward-bias current of 20 mA. This ηL was approximately triple that of a tri-phosphor fluorescent lamp (90 lm W−1). The blue LED used as the excitation source in this white LED had a high output power (ϕe) of 47.1 mW and a high external quantum efficiency (ηex) of 84.3%. The second was a high-power white LED, fabricated from the above high-power blue LED, and had a high ϕe of 756 mW at 350 mA. ϕv and ηL of the high-power white LED were 203 lm and 183 lm W−1 at 350 mA, respectively. The third was a high-power white LED fabricated from four high-power blue LED dies. ϕv and ηL of the high-power white LED were 1913 lm and 135 lm W−1 at 1 A, respectively. The white LED had a higher flux than a 20 W-class fluorescent lamp and 1.5 times the luminous efficacy of a tri-phosphor fluorescent lamp (90 lm W−1).

InGaN multi-quantum-well-structure laser diodes (LDs) grown on GaN substrates were demonstrated. The LDs showed a small thermal resistance of 30 °C/W and a lifetime longer than 780 h despite a large threshold current density of 7 kA/cm2. In contrast, the LDs grown on a sapphire substrate exhibited a high thermal resistance of 60 °C/W and a short lifetime of 200 h under room-temperature continuous-wave operation.

We markedly improved the extraction efficiency of emission light from the InGaN-based light-emitting diode (LED) chips grown on sapphire substrates. Two new techniques were adopted in the fabrication of these LEDs. One is to grow nitride films on the patterned sapphire substrate (PSS) in order to scatter emission light. Another is to use the Rh mesh electrode for p-GaN contact instead of Ni/Au translucent electrode in order to reduce the optical absorption by the p-contact electrode. We fabricated near-ultraviolet (n-UV) and blue LEDs using the above-mentioned techniques. When the n-UV (400 nm) LED was operated at a forward current of 20 mA at room temperature, the output power and the external quantum efficiency were estimated to be 22.0 mW and 35.5%, respectively. When the blue (460 nm) LED was operated at a forward current of 20 mA at room temperature, the output power and the external quantum efficiency were estimated to be 18.8 mW and 34.9%, respectively.

InGaN multi-quantum-well-structure laser diodes with Al0.14Ga0.86N/GaN modulation doped strained-layer superlattice cladding layers grown on an epitaxially laterally overgrown GaN substrate were demonstrated to have an estimated lifetime of more than 10000 h under continuous-wave operation at 20° C. Under operation at a high temperature of 50° C, the lifetime was longer than 1000 h. With the operating current increasing to above the threshold, a self-pulsation with a high frequency of 3.5 GHz was observed. The carrier lifetime was estimated to be 1.8 ns from the pulsed modulation of the LDs.

Epitaxially laterally overgrown GaN on sapphire was used to reduce the number of threading dislocations originating from the interface of the GaN epilayer with the sapphire substrate. The GaN layer above the SiO2 mask area surrounding the window, corresponding to the lateral overgrowth, was nearly free of the threading dislocations. A high density of threading dislocations was observed in the vicinity of GaN grown in the window regions. InGaN multi-quantum-well-structure laser diodes (LDs) grown on pure GaN substrates, which were fabricated by removing the sapphire substrate, were demonstrated. The LDs with an output power of 5 mW exhibited a lifetime of more than 290 h and an estimated lifetime of 10,000 h despite a relatively large threshold current density. The far-field pattern of the LDs with a cleaved mirror facet revealed single-mode emission without any interference effects.