Vertical InGaN Light-Emitting Diode with Hybrid Distributed Bragg Reflectors

A vertical-type InGaN light-emitting diode with a resonant cavity was demonstrated with a 9 μm aperture size and a short cavity formed by hybrid distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs). The approach involved designing epitaxial structures and utilizing an electrochemical etching process to convert heavily doped n-type gallium nitride (n⁺-GaN) layers into porous GaN layers as a porous-GaN DBR structure. Thirteen pairs of the conductive porous-GaN:Si/GaN:Si DBR structure provided a vertical current path in a vertical-type light-emitting diodes (LED) structure. The LED epitaxial layers were separated from sapphire for membrane-type LED structures through a laser lift-off process. During the free-standing membrane fabrication process, the dielectric DBR deposited on ITO/p-GaN:Mg layers was inverted from top to bottom, thereby establishing the concept of higher reflectivity for the bottom DBR compared to the porous-GaN DBR. The physical cavity length was reduced from about 2.3 μm for the LED membrane to 0.74 μm for the membrane-type LED with the embedded porous-GaN DBR structure. The divergent angles and line width of EL emission light were reduced from 124°/31.7 nm to 44°/3.3 nm due to the resonant cavity effect. The membrane-type LED structures with hybrid DBRs consisted of small divergent angles, narrow line width, and vertical current injection properties that have potential for directional emission light sources and vertical-cavity surface-emitting diode laser applications.