Enhanced light extraction of the deep-ultraviolet micro-LED via rational design of chip sidewall

In this Letter, we perform a comprehensive investigation on the optical characterization of micro-sized deep-ultraviolet (DUV) LEDs (micro-LEDs) emitting below 280 nm, highlighting the light extraction behavior in relation to the design of chip sidewall angle. We found that the micro-LEDs with a smaller inclined chip sidewall angle (∼33^∘) have improved external quantum efficiency (EQE) performance 19% more than that of the micro-LEDs with a larger angle (∼75^∘). Most importantly, the EQE improvement by adopting an inclined sidewall can be more outstanding as the diameter of the LED chip reduces from 40 to 20 μm. The enhanced EQE of the micro-LEDs with smaller inclined chip sidewall angles can be attributed to the stronger reflection of the inclined sidewall, leading to enhanced light extraction efficiency (LEE). In the end, the numerical optical modeling further reveals and verifies the impact of the sidewall angles on the LEE of the micro-LEDs, corroborating our experiment results. This Letter provides a fundamental understanding of the light extraction behavior with optimized chip geometry to design and fabricate highly efficient micro-LEDs in a DUV spectrum of the future.