Optical Properties of GaN-Based Green Light-Emitting Diodes Influenced by Low-Temperature p-GaN Layer

GaN-based green light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with different thicknesses of the low-temperature (LT) p-GaN layer between the last GaN barriers and p-AlGaN electron blocking layer were characterized by photoluminescence (PL) and electroluminescence (EL) spectroscopic methods in the temperature range of 6–300 K and injection current range of 0.01–350 mA. Based on the results, we suggest that a 20 nm-thick LT p-GaN layer can effectively prevent indium (In) re-evaporation, improve the quantum-confined Stark effect in the last quantum well (QW) of the active region, and finally reduce the efficiency droop by about 7%.

Investigation of the Optimum Mg Doping Concentration in p-Type-Doped Layers of InGaN Blue Laser Diode Structures

In GaN-based laser diode (LD) structures, Mg doping in p-type-doped layers has a significant influence on the device performance. As the doping concentration increases, the operation voltage decreases, whereas the output power decreases as a result of increased optical absorption, implying that optimization of the Mg doping concentration is required. In this study, we systematically investigated the effect of the Mg doping concentration in the AlGaN electron-blocking layer (EBL) and the AlGaN p-cladding layer on the output power, forward voltage, and wall-plug efficiency (WPE) of InGaN blue LD structures using numerical simulations. In the optimization of the EBL, an Al composition of 20% and an Mg doping concentration of 3 × 1019 cm−3 exhibited the best performance, with negligible electron leakage and a high WPE. The optimum Mg concentration of the p-AlGaN cladding layer was found to be ~1.5 × 1019 cm−3, where the maximum WPE of 38.6% was obtained for a blue LD with a threshold current density of 1 kA/cm2 and a slope efficiency of 2.1 W/A.

Optimizing the PMMA Electron-Blocking Layer of Quantum Dot Light-Emitting Diodes

Quantum dots (QDs) are promising candidates for producing bright, color-pure, cost-efficient, and long-lasting QD-based light-emitting diodes (QDLEDs). However, one of the significant problems in achieving high efficiency of QDLEDs is the imbalance between the rates of charge-carrier injection into the emissive QD layer and their transport through the device components. Here we investigated the effect of the parameters of the deposition of a poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) electron-blocking layer (EBL), such as PMMA solution concentration, on the characteristics of EBL-enhanced QDLEDs. A series of devices was fabricated with the PMMA layer formed from acetone solutions with concentrations ranging from 0.05 to 1.2 mg/mL. The addition of the PMMA layer allowed for an increase of the maximum luminance of QDLED by a factor of four compared to the control device without EBL, that is, to 18,671 cd/m2, with the current efficiency increased by an order of magnitude and the turn-on voltage decreased by ~1 V. At the same time, we have demonstrated that each particular QDLED characteristic has a maximum at a specific PMMA layer thickness; therefore, variation of the EBL deposition conditions could serve as an additional parameter space when other QDLED optimization approaches are being developed or implied in future solid-state lighting and display devices.