Investigation of Light Extraction Efficiency in AlGaN Deep-Ultraviolet Light-Emitting Diodes

Abstract

Light extraction efficiency (LEE) in AlGaN deep-ultraviolet (DUV) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) is investigated using finite-difference time-domain simulations. For flip-chip and vertical LED structures, LEE is obtained to be <10% due to strong DUV light absorption in the p-GaN layer. In flip-chip LEDs, LEE of transverse-magnetic (TM) modes is found to be more than ten times smaller than that of transverse-electric (TE) modes, which explains the decreasing behavior of external quantum efficiency of DUV LEDs with decreasing wavelength. It is also found that vertical LED structures can have advantages over flip-chip structures for increasing LEE in the TM mode. (C) 2013 The Japan Society of Applied Physics