Light Output Enhancement of GaN-Based Light-Emitting Diodes by Optimizing SiO₂ Nanorod-Array Depth Patterned Sapphire Substrate

Abstract

In this study, we investigated high-efficiency InGaN/GaN light-emitting diodes (LEDs) grown on sapphire substrates with SiO 2 nanorod arrays (NRAs) of different heights. The GaN film showed an improved crystal quality through X-ray diffraction (XRD) full-width at half-maximum (FWHM), photoluminescence (PL), and cathodoluminescence (CL) measurements. The light output power and internal quantum efficiency (IQE) of the fabricated LEDs were increased when compared with those of conventional LEDs. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images suggested that the voids between SiO 2 nanorods and the stacking faults introduced during the nanoscale epitaxial lateral overgrowth (NELOG) of GaN can effectively reduce the threading dislocation density (TDD). We believe that the improvements could be attributed to both the enhanced light extraction by utilizing SiO 2 NRAs and the improved crystal quality through the NELOG method. We found that the sample with SiO 2 NRA structures of 200 nm height can increase the LED output power by more than 70% in our study.