Nanocrystal integrated light emitting diodes based on radiative and nonradiative energy transfer for the green gap

Recently the photometric conditions for ultra-efficient solid-state lighting have been discussed [1-2]. These studies show that a luminous efficacy of optical radiation at 408 lm/Wopt and a color rendering index (CRI) of 90 at a correlated color temperature (CCT) of 3000 K are achievable at the same time. For this purpose light emitting diodes (LEDs) emitting in blue, green, yellow, and red colors at 463, 530, 573, and 614 nm with relative optical power levels of 1/8, 2/8, 2/8, and 3/8, are required, respectively [1-2]. Although InxGa1-xN material system is capable to cover the whole visible by changing the In composition (x), it is technically extremely challenging to obtain efficient green/yellow light emitting diodes especially at those wavelengths (i.e., at 530 nm and 573 nm, respectively) due to reduced internal quantum efficiency [2-4]. Furthermore, by using the (Al xGa1-x)1-yInyP quaternary alloy it is also possible to cover from 650 nm to 580 nm. However, the efficiencies significantly decrease towards green. Therefore, there exists a significant gap in the green-yellow spectral regions (known as "the green gap") to make efficient light emitting diodes. To address this green gap problem, we propose and demonstrate proof-of-concept nanocrystal (NCs) hybridized green/yellow light emitting diodes that rely on both radiative energy transfer and nonradiative energy transfer (i.e., FRET-Förster resonance energy transfer) for color conversion on near-ultraviolet (near-UV) LEDs.