PECVD grown SiN photonic crystal micro-domes for the light extraction enhancement of GaN LEDs

Abstract

In this work, the effect of introducing a photonic crystal network of silicon nitride (SiN) micro-domes on the backside of silver coated gallium nitride (GaN) based light emitting diodes (LEDs) was studied. First, sapphire side of the top emitting LEDs, which is the bottom surface of the LEDs, is coated with silver (Ag). Light emitted towards the sapphire substrate is reflected upwards to the top surface and the amount of light extracted from the LED is expected to increase. In an alternative approach, SiN micro-domes forming a two dimensional photonic crystal, 2 μm in diameter and 80 nm in height in average, are deposited on the light emitting surface of the device with a period of 2 μm. Coating the backside with Ag has increased the efficiency of a top emitting LED by 11%. By introducing the SiN photonic crystal onto the Ag backside coated sample, total internal reflection is reduced via scattering and the amount of light emitted has been increased by 30% at 5·104 mA/cm2. Integration of SiN micro-domes with Ag coating has significantly impacted light extraction which has been shown to increase the efficiency of GaN based LEDs. Fabrication process and the results are discussed in detail.