Introduction to the Creation and Function of

White LEDs

By: Daniel Frantik, Robert Huschak, and Brandon Johnson*

Class: EE 332
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Table of Contents and Figures

1.Introduction to White LED 2

Figure 1.1 2
2.Physics of the LED 3
Figure 2.1 Error! Bookmark not defined.
Figure 2.2 4
Figure 2.3 5
Figure 2.4 5
3.Physics of Materials in Creation of White LEDS 6
Figure 3.1 6
Figure 3.2 7
Figure 3.3 8
4. LED Fabrication (RGB) 8
Figure 4.1 9
Figure 4.2 9
Figure 4.3 10
5 LED Fabrication (Blue Phosphor) 10
Figure 5.2 11
6. Applications and the Future Direction of White Leds: 12
Figure 6.1 13
7.Summary 14
References 14
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1.Introduction to White LED

The history of white LEDs starts in 1992 with the invention of the first blue LED by Isamu
Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura. Red and green LEDs had been around since the
1960s, but the blue LED was the key to create white LEDs. The first white LED was made up of
the three base LED colors red, green and blue because when these lights where combined it would
create white light to the human eye. The white LED would be approved on by blue phosphor LEDs,
which only requires a blue LED covered in a thin coat of phosphor allowing it to create white light.
Now of days these lights are some of the most efficient light sources on the market, as seen figure
1-1, beating out fluorescents light bulbs.

Figure 1.1
Diagram representing the creation of each color LED, their efficiencies, and the year of creation
made by Kitai [1].
Being able to create the modern led required the knowledge that we will mention later
about how LEDs emit light and how each combination of materials create different colors of light.
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2.Physics of the LED

To explain the creation of a white light emitting diode, first, we must define the
heterojunction and its purpose in construction.When using a homojunction to create an LED, you
must rely on high amounts of doping on one side of the junction to form a band gap large enough
to allow for some of the light that is produced inside of the junction not to be reabsorbed back into
the conduction region.
Current manufacturing of LEDs is done by creating a junction between semiconductors
that have different band gaps. Called a Heterojunction, this gap creates discontinuities in the
energy bands, seen in figures 2.1 and 2.2 [2]. The difference in materials creates a barrier higher
barrier for electrons to move in the conduction band in the N-n case, and a barrier for holes to
move in the P-p Case.

Figure 2.1
Energy-band diagrams of isotype N–n heterojunction: (a) before contact and (b) after contact.[2]
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Figure 2.2
Energy-band diagrams of isotype P–p heterojunction: (figure a) before contact and (figure b)
after contact.[2]
Different types of heterojunctions can be used to create more efficient LEDs. One such
version is called a Single Heterojunction, which has one large band gap material and combines
that with one small band gap material. When the two elements are brought together their Fermi
levels will balance and create barriers that will change the current injection ratio and the injection
efficiency. Figure 2.3 [2] shows an N-P heterojunction. When the two semiconductors reach
equilibrium, the barriers for electrons is decreased,ΔEc and the barrier for holes is increased, ΔEV.
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Figure 2.3
N-P semiconductor materials before contact on the left and after contact on the right [2]
Double Heterojunction LEDs follow the same principle as before with the single
heterojunction but add another large band gap material on the other side of the small band gap
material to create a “Well” for electrons and holes to accumulate. This forces recombination to
happen in the lower bandgap material and increases the efficiency of the led by preventing the
emitted light from being absorbed in the larger band gap regions.

Figure 2.4
Shows a P-p-N heterojunction under forward bias.[2]
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The figure above shows how in that specific arrangement of double heterojunction how the
holes will accumulate from the hole-doped left side to the more intrinsic center material as well as
how the electrons from the more heavily doped right side to center material. Due to the ΔEc and
ΔEV, these prevent the further movement of electrons and holes and create the region where the
light will emit inside the led. Since the light that is emitted is at a lower energy level than of the
larger states next to the center material this allow the light to be emitted and be more efficient than
a homojunction or even a single heterojunction[2].

3.Physics of Materials in Creation of White LEDS

Understanding the timeline in figure 1.1 can lead to a better idea of why we created the red
led first. The GaAs LED operates in the infrared spectrum, and by adding the Phosphorus, the band
gap would then be able to be increased to allow for lower wavelengths of light starting with the
red region. One major flaw with this design of LED was due to the reabsorption of emitted light
and the “lattice defects and dislocations...lead to non-radiative carrier recombination”[1].
Kitai wrote that double heterojunctions using AlGaAs created a higher efficiency[1]. The
process uses the GaAs basic structure and replaces some amount of Ga with Al to create a more
consistent lattice structure inside the device. His[1] diagram shown below in figure 3.1 is another
visualization of the heterojunction structure we mentioned about in the previous sections.

Figure 3.1
Shows a Double heterojunction of AlGaAs and their respective bandgaps[1]
When looking into the creation of green and blue LEDs, one common design is the use of
InGaN. Reale wrote [3] that their research was focused on performing measurements on
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photoluminescence and cathodoluminescence on InGaN to help understand multiple quantum

wells. Figure 3.2 shows the results of Reales research and measurements.

Figure 3.2
Shows measurements taken of an InGaN sample of both its Photoluminescence(PL) and
cathodoluminescence(CL)[3].
Figure 3.2 shows that the peak of InGaN is around 3.07eV. We can then use this equation
to convert to wavelength:
𝐸 = ℎ𝑐/𝜆
Then rewritten as:
𝝀 = 𝒉𝒄/𝑬
Then inserting the 3.07eV taken from Reale’s plot [3] into the above equation, we get a
wavelength of around 400 nm, or inside the violet light spectrum. So with proper modification of
lattice constant, the peak eV of the substances can be lower to increase the wavelengths to be inside
the blue or green spectrums. The figure 3.3 below by Gessmann [4], shows how each combination
of materials creates different wavelengths of light depending on the lattice constant.
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Figure 3.3
Plot by Gessmann [4] showing how the wavelength, energy gap, and lattice constant all relate.
The choices made for a certain color of light would be taken from figure 3.3 and then the
fabrication process would begin from there.
4. LED Fabrication (RGB)
Modern-day LEDs uses gallium nitride GaN as their base material grown on silicon wafers.
[5] They were traditionally made on sapphire wafers but in 2009, The University of Cambridge
developed a process to use silicon instead of sapphire, greatly reducing cost. [6] The GaN is made
by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) reactor. This process starts with a silicon
wafer in a high-temperature gas chamber. [6] This allows for thin layers of GaN to be grown in a
controlled environment using hydrogen gas (carrier gas), Trimethylgallium (Ga(CH3)3) and
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ammonia (NH3) at temperatures ranging from 600 to 1100 °C. These will used to create the three
LEDs need to make RGB LEDs.

[7] An RGB LED is made of three different single LEDs, one LED emitting wavelengths
between 620-750 nm (Red), another LED emitting 495-600 nm (Green) and the last LED emitting
450-495 nm (Blue), as seen in figure 4-1.

Figure 4.1
shows the wavelength of the three LEDs [8]

Figure 4.2
shows an the three separate LEDs attached and soldered the connection to leads [5]
When these wavelengths are put together it will create white light to the human eye. The red, green
and blue LEDs are all doped independently on GaN before they assembled into the final RGB
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LED. [9] [7] The red LED is made with aluminum indium gallium phosphide (AlGaInP) doped
onto gallium nitride (GaN) wafer. [9] Both the green and blue LEDs are made with indium gallium
nitride (InGaN) doped also on gallium nitride (GaN) wafer. The GaN also use the Metalorganic
Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD) process. The wafers are then cut into 1.6x1.6x0.35 mm
dies and attached onto a metal lead, usually the cathode. Then each die gets a small wire attached
to the to each their own independent cathode and anode, seen in figure 4-2 but some are attached
to one anode when creating an RGB LED bulb (figure 4-3) or a light strip where each color spread
out over equal intervals. [5] Each color needs its own cathode because each LED has its own
forward voltage, Red 2.0-2.5V, Green 3.1-3.8V and is Blue: 3.1-3.8V. This is important because
each diode needs to be at the same intensity to make white light to the human eye.

Figure 4.3
A basic RGB LED lead layout [10]

5 LED Fabrication (Blue Phosphor)

[8] Blue Phosphor LEDs is made of just one blue LED. The blue LED is made by gallium
nitride (GaN) wafer doped with indium gallium nitride (InGaN) using the Metalorganic Chemical
Vapor Deposition (MOCVD). [8] The leads cathode is attached to the p-side and the anode is
attached to the n-side of the diode. After this blue LED is covered in a layer of Ce:YAG phosphor.
This layer will convert some of the higher level blue light photons and converts them to yellow
photons, as seen in Figure 5-1. [11] The blue LED will produce wavelengths 450-500 nm and the
Ce:YAG phosphor 500–700 nm, figure 5-1. These white waves will create white light, just like
the RGB LEDs. Blue phosphor LEDs are the brightest LED being made today.
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Figure 5.1
shows side diagram of a blue phosphor LED [5]

Figure 5.2
This is the light spectrum graph of a blue phosphor LED [12]
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6. Applications and the Future Direction of White Leds:

The advancements made with energy efficient white LEDs will have the biggest impact in
the lighting industry. [13] Lighting is a huge industry and is responsible for one-fifth of the United
States’ power consumption. White LEDs can be used for general purpose lighting applications and
have significant advantages over other light sources. LEDs are more energy efficient and have
longer lifespans than traditional light bulbs.
The types of light bulbs that are common in the united states are incandescent, compact
fluorescent bulbs and more recently white LEDs. In a broad sense, LEDs biggest advantages when
compared to these light sources is their efficiency. Energy efficiency of light sources is measure
in lumens per watt, meaning the amount of light produced for each watt of electricity consumed.
This is known as luminous efficacy. [13] The term “efficacy” is used when the input and output
units are different. [14] Traditional incandescent bulbs have the worst luminous efficacy of around
15 lumens/watt, fluorescent bulbs have an efficacy of 70 lumens/watt and LEDs have an efficacy
around 80-90 lumens/watt. [5] Blue phosphor are the most efficient of LED and are best used when
trying to reduce energy costs. RGB LEDs, however, are more versatile as it allows the user to
control the exact color of the light. The disadvantage of this is that it requires extra hardware to
control, increasing the cost.
White Leds also have other advantages when compared to energy efficient light sources
such as fluorescent bulbs. LEDs are much safer than fluorescent bulbs. Fluorescent bulbs contain
mercury and posses health threats if broken In commercial applications, fluorescent bulbs require
higher voltages of around 100-175v to energize the ions in tube to create light. LEDs typically
only need 3-4 volts to run, making them a lot safer than fluorescent bulbs. While LEDs are more
expensive, they last long and are more efficient than fluorescent.
LEDs higher efficiency leads to less energy consumption and will reduces energy costs.
[15]“LEDs also have much longer lifetimes (5000-100,000 hours versus 2000 hours for
conventional light bulbs). [14] The chart below shows the energy and cost saving benefits of LEDs
when compared to other bulbs.
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Figure 6.1
[16]Energy and cost savings of different types of lightbulbs

The biggest challenge facing white LEDs today is the initial cost. These expensive upfront
cost discourages many consumer from making the switch, even if it will save money in the long
run. [15]This will not be the case for long, the price of white LED has been consistently decreasing
in recent years. [13] The United States Department of Energy's predicts that for cost effective
energy efficient white LEDs will be market ready by 2025.The costs are even exceeding haitz law,
which predicts that every 10 years, This can lead to a significant reduction in global energy
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demand. In fact, [17] “If all conventional white-light sources in the world were converted to these
energy efficient LEDs, energy consumption could be reduced by around 1000 TW hours a year.”
This would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 200 millions tonnes.

7.Summary
With the use of heterojunctions and proper selection of elements for modern manufacturing
of LEDs, we can create more efficient displays and lighting than ever before. The creation of the
white LED was the culmination of all the research and experimentation done to develop first the
red, green, and blue LEDs. From using Ultraviolet lights on tanks during World War 2, we now
use LED technology in our pockets with modern smartphones. In addition with advancements of
GaN, white LEDs will continue to improve in efficiency and cost helping white LEDs find more
applications in future technology.
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References
[1] A. Kitai, Principles of solar cells, LEDs and diodes: the role of the PN junction. Chichester:
Wiley, 2011. [E-book] Available: Iowa State Library
[2] V. K. Khanna, Fundamentals of solid-state lighting: LEDs, OLEDs, and their applications in
illumination and displays. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2014. [E-book] Available: Iowa State
Library
[3]A. Reale, A. D. Carlo, A. Vinattieri, M. Colocci, F. Rossi, N. Armani, C. Ferrari, G. Salviati,
L. Lazzarini, and V. Grillo, “Investigation of the recombination dynamics in low In-content InGaN
MQWs by means of cathodoluminescence and photoluminescence excitation,” Physica status
solidi (c), vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 817–821, Feb. 2005. [Journal] Available: Iowa State Library
[4]Gessmann, T. and Schubert, E. (2004). High-efficiency AlGaInP light-emitting diodes for solid-
state lighting applications. Journal of Applied Physics, 95(5), pp.2203-2216.
[5] T. Boles, "GaN-on-silicon present challenges and future opportunities," 2017 12th European
Microwave Integrated Circuits Conference (EuMIC), Nuremberg, 2017, pp. 21-24.
doi: 10.23919/EuMIC.2017.8230650
[6] Ambacher, Oliver & Angerer, H & Dimitrov, R & Rieger, W & Stutzmann, Martin &
Dollinger, Guenther & Bergmaier, Andreas. “Hydrogen in gallium nitride grown by MOCVD”.
Physica Status Solidi (a). Vol. 2, no. 1, pp 105-119. January 1997,
[7] E. F. Schubert and J. K. Kim, “Solid-state light sources getting smart,” Science, vol. 308, no.
5726, pp. 1274–1278, 2005.
[8] A. A. Setlur, “Phosphors for led-based solid-state lighting,” Electrochemical Society Interface,
p. 33, 2009.
[9] F. Scholz,J. Koch,A. Frey,A.C. Jones. Reference Module in Materials Science and Materials
Engineering. Elsevier, 2016
[10] M. Weyers, E. Richter, and Others, “GaN substrates by HVPE,” in
Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering, K. P. Streubel and H.
Jeon, Eds., vol. 6910, feb 2008, pp. 69 100I–69 100I–10.
[11] Joonas Leppänen, Jussi Taskinen, Emma Kiljo, Alexander Permogorov, Niklas Heikkilä,
“GaN based blue-LED”. Aalto University, 2016.
[12] “How LEDs Produce White Light. Photon Star Technology Ltd., 1019
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[13] United States. Dept of Energy. Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. How
Energy-Efficient Light Bulbs Compare with Traditional Incandescents.
[14] United States. Dept of Energy. Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. Energy
Efficiency of White LEDs. June 2009, : www.eere.gov.
[15]Banerjee, Sanjay Kumar, and Ben G. Streetman. Solid State Electronic Devices. Prentice Hall,
2016.
[16] United States. Dept of Energy. Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. How
Energy-Efficient Light Bulbs Compare with Traditional Incandescents.
[17]Pimputkar, Siddha, et al. “Prospects for Led Lighting.” Researchgate, Macmillan Publishers,
Apr. 2009, : https://www.researchgate.net/publication/32027522.