Effects of the electrode metal structure and the current blocking layer on the characteristics of blue GaN-based light-emitting diodes

Abstract

The influence of the electrode metal structure and the current blocking layer on the characteristics of blue GaN-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs) was investigated. The changes in the electrode metal structure, along with the current blocking layer (CBL) were found to enable control of the optical and the electrical properties of the fabricated LEDs. Thus, the light output power at an injection current of 90 mA was increased by about 8.5% for the LED with a Cr/Al/Ni/Au electrode metal and a SiO₂ CBL and by about 9.0% for the LED with a Ti/Al/Ni/Au electrode metal and without a SiO₂ CBL over the reference LED with only Cr/Ni/Au electrode metal. This was due to the reduction of the current-crowding effect and to the absorption of photons near the P/N pad by the metal electrode. Furthermore, the operating voltage under the same injection current of 90 mA was changed from 3.30 V for the reference LED to 3.37 V and 3.28 V for the LED with a SiO₂ CBL and for the LED with Ti/Al/Ni/Au electrode metal, respectively. The results confirmed that the electrode metal structure and the CBL played critical roles in the improvement of the emission characteristics in GaN-based LEDs.