• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2010.03a
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• pp.16-16
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• 2010

GaN-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are attracting great interest as candidates for next-generation solid-state lighting, because of their long lifetime, small size, high efficacy, and low energy consumption. However, for general illumination applications, the external quantum efficiency of LEDs, determined by the internal quantum efficiency (IQE) and the light extraction efficiency, must be further increased. The IQE is determined by crystal quality and epitaxial layer structure and high value of IQE more than 70% for blue LEDs have been already reported. However, there is much room for improvement of light extraction efficiency because most of the generated photons from active layer remain inside LEDs by total internal reflection at the interface of semiconductor with air due to the high refractive index difference between LEDs epilayer (for GaN, n=2.5) and air (n=1). The light confining in LEDs will be reabsorbed by the metal electrode or active layer, reducing the efficacy of LEDs. Here, we present the first demonstration of enhanced light extraction by forming a MgO nano-pyramids structure on the surface of vertical-LEDs. The MgO nano-pyramids structure was successfully fabricated at room temperature using conventional electron-beam evaporation without any additional process. The nano-sized pyramids of MgO are formed on the surface during growth due to anisotropic characteristics between (111) and (200) plane of MgO. The ZnO layer with quarter-wavelength in thickness is inserted between GaN and MgO layers to increase the critical angle for total internal reflection, because the refractive index of ZnO (n=1.94) could be matched between GaN (n=2.5) and MgO (n=1.73). The MgO nano-pyramids structure and ZnO refractive-index modulation layer enhanced the light extraction efficiency ofV-LEDs with by 49%, comparing with the V-LEDs with a flat n-GaN surface. The angular-dependent emission intensity shows the enhanced light extraction through the side walls of V-LEDs as well as through the top surface of the n-GaN, because of the increase in critical angle for total internal reflection as well as light scattering at the MgO nano-pyramids surface.

• Proceedings of the IEEK Conference
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.575-576
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• 2006

It was analyzed qualitatively the light extraction in GaN-on-sapphire LEDs based on a simple model. The light extraction efficiency in the LEDs is simulated numerically by using ray tracing method. In the present study, the extraction efficiency was simulated on three different types of LEDs, which a have a different pattered sapphire substrate. And, the role of the patterned sapphire substrate are analyzed and discussed. Based on the analysis, the improvements of extraction efficiency in the LED structures were discussed and these analyses are helpful in the design of high brightness GaN LEDs.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.177-182
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• 2013

Nanosphere lithography is an inexpensive, simple, high-throughput nanofabrication process. NSL can be done in different ways, such as drop coating, spin coating or by means of tilted evaporation. Nitride-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are applied in different places, such as liquid crystal displays and traffic signals. The characteristics of gallium nitride (GaN)-based LEDs can be enhanced by fabricating nanopatterns on the top surface of the LEDs. In this work, we created differently sized (420, 320 and 140 nm) nanopatterns on the upper surfaces of GaN-based LEDs using a modified nanosphere lithography technique. This technique is quite different from conventional NSL. The characterization of the patterned GaN-based LEDs revealed a dependence on the size of the holes in the pattern created on the LED surface. The depths of the patterns were 80 nm as confirmed by AFM. Both the photoluminescence and electroluminescence intensities of the patterned LEDs were found to increase with an increase in the size of holes in the pattern. The light output power of the 420-nm hole-patterned LED was 1.16 times higher than that of a conventional LED. Moreover, the current-voltage characteristics were improved with the fabrication of differently sized patterns over the LED surface using the proposed nanosphere lithography method.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.02a
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• pp.145-145
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• 2011

Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) based on III-nitrides compound semiconductors have achieved a high performance device available for display and illumination sector. However, the conventional c-plane oriented LED structures are still showing several problems given by the quantum confined Stark effect (QCSE) due to the effects of strong piezoelectric and spontaneous polarizations. The QCSE results in spatial separation of electron and hole wavefunctions in quantum wells, thereby decreasing the internal quantum efficiency and red-shifting the emission wavelength. Due to demands for improvement of device performance, nonpolar structure has been attracting attentions, since the quantum wells grown on nonpolar templates are free from the QCSE. However, current device performance for nonpolar LEDs is still lower than those for conventional LEDs. In this study, we discuss the potential possibilities of nonpolar LEDs for commercialization. In this study, we characterized current-light output power relation of the a-plane InGaN/GaN LEDs structures with the variation of quantum well structures. On-wafer electroluminescence measurements were performed with short pulse (10 us) and low duty factor (1 %) conditions applied for eliminating thermal effects. The well and barrier widths, and indium compositions in quantum well structures were changed to analyze the efficiency droop phenomenon.

• The Journal of the Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.35-40
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• 2008

High performance light emitting diodes(LEDs) have been developed using GaN-based materials grown on sapphire substrates in recent years. Although these LEDs are already commercially available, we have to consider electrostatic discharge(ESD) damage related to both basic materials of diode and miniaturization of LEDs. ESD damage is one of the important parameters influencing reliability of the light emitting devices. We investigated mass production of GaN-based LEDs suffered from ESD during production process and present the solutions in order to improve the ESD problem. Most of EDS problems were controlled by using instruments properly and improvement of the process circumstances as well.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.287.1-287.1
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• 2016

Three-dimensional (3-D) semiconductor nanoarchitectures, including nano- and micro- rods, pyramids, and disks, are emerging as one of the most promising elements for future optoelectronic devices. Since these 3-D semiconductor nanoarchitectures have many interesting unconventional properties, including the use of large light-emitting surface area and semipolar/nonpolar nano- or micro-facets, numerous studies reported on novel device applications of these 3-D nanoarchitectures. In particular, 3-D nanoarchitecture devices can have noticeably different current spreading characteristics compared with conventional thin film devices, due to their elaborate 3-D geometry. Utilizing this feature in a highly controlled manner, color-tunable light-emitting diodes (LEDs) were demonstrated by controlling the spatial distribution of current density over the multifaceted GaN LEDs. Meanwhile, for the fabrication of high brightness, single color emitting LEDs or laser diodes, uniform and high density of electrical current must be injected into the entire active layers of the nanoarchitecture devices. Here, we report on a new device structure to inject uniform and high density of electrical current through the 3-D semiconductor nanoarchitecture LEDs using metal core inside microtube LEDs. In this work, we report the fabrications and characteristics of metal-cored coaxial $GaN/In_xGa_{1-x}N$ microtube LEDs. For the fabrication of metal-cored microtube LEDs, $GaN/In_xGa_{1-x}N/ZnO$ coaxial microtube LED arrays grown on an n-GaN/c-Al2O3 substrate were lifted-off from the substrate by wet chemical etching of sacrificial ZnO microtubes and $SiO_2$ layer. The chemically lifted-off layer of LEDs were then stamped upside down on another supporting substrates. Subsequently, Ti/Au and indium tin oxide were deposited on the inner shells of microtubes, forming n-type electrodes of the metal-cored LEDs. The device characteristics were investigated measuring electroluminescence and current-voltage characteristic curves and analyzed by computational modeling of current spreading characteristics.

• ETRI Journal
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.566-570
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• 2013

In this paper, we demonstrate the capabilities of 380-nm ultraviolet (UV) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) using metal organic chemical vapor deposition. The epi-structure of these LEDs consists of InGaN/AlGaN multiple quantum wells on a patterned sapphire substrate, and the devices are fabricated using a conventional LED process. The LEDs are packaged with a type of surface mount device with Al-metal. A UV LED can emit light at 383.3 nm, and its maximum output power is 118.4 mW at 350 mA.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.322.2-322.2
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• 2014

Lighting emitting diodes of n-ZnO/MQW/p-GaN structure are fabricated and investigated. To realize this LED structure, n-ZnO/MQW/p-GaN are grown by MOCVD. At several bias voltages, blue-green light is emitted from the ZnO mesa edge. However, the emission is restricted near the mesa edge. It is seen that the hole current does not spread well. It is because conductivity of p-GaN is extremely small. The break down voltage of the device is small compared to conventional InGaN/GaN LEDs. It is seen that ZnO columnar grain boundaries act as leakage current paths and non-radiative recombination center.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.705-708
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• 2014

We demonstrate the blue InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with an embedded air-gap photonic crystal (PC) which was fabricated by the lateral epitaxial overgrowth of GaN layer on the tungsten (W) nano-masks. The periodic air-gap PC was formed by the chemical reaction of hydrogen with GaN on the W nano-mask. The optical output power of LEDs with an air-gap PC was increased by 26% compared to LEDs without an air-gap PC. The enhanced optical output power was attributed to the improvement in internal quantum efficiency and light extraction efficiency by the air-gap PC embedded in GaN layer.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.273-276
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• 2011

Ultraviolet (UV) light emitting diodes (LEDs) were grown on a patterned n-type GaN substrate (PNS) with 200 nm silicon-di-oxide (SiO2) nano pattern diameter to improve the light output efficiency of the diodes. Wet etched self assembled indium tin oxide (ITO) nano clusters serve as a dry etching mask for converting the SiO2 layer grown on the n-GaN template into SiO2 nano patterns by inductively coupled plasma etching. PNS is obtained by n-GaN regrowth on the SiO2 nano patterns and UV-LEDs were fabricated using PNS as a template. Two UV-LEDs, a reference LED without PNS and a 200 nm PNS UV-LEDs were fabricated. Scanning Electron microscopy (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Photoluminescence (PL) and Light output intensity- Input current- Voltage (L-I-V) characteristics were used to evaluate the ITO-$SiO_2$ nanopattern surface morphology, threading dislocation propagation, PNS crystalline property, PNS optical property and UVLED device performance respectively. The light out put intensity was enhanced by 1.6times@100mA for the LED grown on PNS compared to the reference LED with out PNS.