Current Applied Physics 11 (2011) S385eS387

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Current Applied Physics

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/cap

High-efficiency vertical AlGaInP light-emitting diodes with conductive

omni-directional reflectors
Jae Won Seo a, Hwa Sub Oh a, b, Joon Seop Kwak a, *
a
Department of Printed Electronics Engineering (WCU), Sunchon National University, Jeonnam 540-742, Republic of Korea
b
LED Device Team, Korea Photonics Technology Institute, Gwangju 500-460, Republic of Korea

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In order to increase extraction efficiency of AlGaInP-based vertical red light-emitting diodes (LEDs),
Received 29 June 2010 AlGaInP LEDs employing a conductive omni-directional reflector (ODR) using transparent conducting
Received in revised form oxide (TCO)/Ag is presented. The ODR consisted of p-type GaP, TCO layer (ITO, IZO, or AZO), and an Ag
5 October 2010
layer. The transmittance of the ITO, IZO, and AZO films were found 96%, 95%, and 91% after annealing at
Accepted 31 January 2011
Available online 26 February 2011
350
C at the wavelength of 620 nm, respectively. Forward voltages of the LEDs with TCO/Ag were
slightly higher than that of the LED with Ag due to the high resistivity of the TCO. However, the
brightness of the AlGaInP LEDs with ODR using ITO, IZO, and AZO measured at 20 mA increased
Keywords:
AlGaInP
significantly by 42%, 38%, and 29% compared with that of the LED with Ag reflector.
Omni-directional reflector Ó 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Vertical red LED
TCO

1. Introduction metallic micro-contacts to enable electrical conductivity for use in

AlGaInP-based materials with a visible spectrum from red to
yellow-green have a direct band gap that ranges 1.8e2.3 eV [1,2].
Recently, AlGaInP-based LEDs have proven to be the most reliable
choice in many applications, including interior automotive lighting,
traffic lights, full-color displays or display signs and billboards [3,4].
Current development efforts of AlGaInP-based LEDs are focused on
topics such as high brightness, efficiency, reliability and low cost
fabrication. In order to enhance LEDs performance, the GaAs light-
absorbing substrate significantly limits the light extraction of
AlGaInP-based LEDs. The problem can be minimized by growing
a distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) between the standard LED
epitaxial layers and the absorbing substrate [5,6]. Another approach
is to replace the GaAs substrate with a Si conductive substrate using
a mirror metal via wafer bonding [7,8]. The wafer bonding tech-
nology used a mirror metal is more effective than the DBR LEDs to
reflect of light from active region because the DBR only reflects light
of near-normal incidence [9].
Recently, Kim et al. showed that the RuO2/SiO2/Ag ODR has
higher than Ni/Au and even Ag reflectors [10], and Xi et al. reported
high reflectivity of ODR employing nanoporous SiO2 (n ¼ 1.23) [11].
The dielectric layer of this ODR was perforated by an array of
* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ82 61 750 3559.
E-mail address: jskwak@sunchon.ac.kr (J.S. Kwak).
LEDs. On the other hand TCO films are highly degenerate wide band
gap semiconductors with high electrical conductivity and optical
transparency [12e15]. In this study, a conductive ODR consisting of
GaP, Ag, and an intermediate Indium-tin oxide(ITO), Indium-zinc
oxide(IZO), or Aluminum-zinc oxide (AZO) low-index layer is
incorporated into the AlGaInP vertical LEDs. We reported on the
electrical and optical properties of AlGaInP vertical LEDs having the
TCO/Ag reflectors and the Ag reflector.
2. Experiments
The LEDs employed in this work were grown on temporary
nþ-GaAs substrates by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition
(MOCVD). The structure consisted of a GaInP etching stop layer
grown on an n-GaAs buffer layer, a thick Si-doped n-AlGaInP cladding
layer, an undoped active layer with 20 period AlGaInPeGaInP
multiple-quantum-wells (MQWs), a Mg-doped n-AlGaInP layer, and
a thick pþ-GaP window layer. Fig. 1(a) and (b) show cross-sectional
schematic diagrams of the AlGaInP with GaPeTCOeAg ODR structure
and Ag reflector. Then, the micro-dot AuBe metal contacts were
deposited on p-GaP as p-ohmic contact by e-beam evaporation. The
TCO films (ITO, IZO, or AZO films) were deposited on the p-GaP/
micro-dot AuBe contacts by RF magnetron sputtering system, as
shown in Fig. 1(b). For measurement of transmittance, the ITO, IZO,
and AZO films were also deposited on the glass substrates. The
thickness of the TCO films and Ag film was controlled to 40 nm and

1567-1739/$ e see front matter Ó 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.cap.2011.01.040
S386 J.W. Seo et al. / Current Applied Physics 11 (2011) S385eS387

Fig. 1. Schematic diagrams of wafer bonding structure with (a) Ag reflector (b) TCO/Ag reflector.

400 nm, respectively. In order to compare reflection of GaP/TCO/Ag
ODR structure and Ag reflector, 400 nm-thick Ag metal layers were
also deposited on the GaP layer in the other LED sample. The reflec-
tivity of the Ag film was 90% at 620 nm. PteIneAu metal contacts
were deposited by e-beam evaporation on top of the Ag reflector.
These LED samples were bonded to Si substrate with commercially
available metal eutectic bonding process. After wafer bonding, the n-
type GaAs substrate and GaInP etching stop layer were removed by
chemical etching solution. Then, Ni, Ge, Au metal contacts were
deposited on n-GaAs contact layer. Ti, Au metal contacts were
deposited on n-AlGaInP as a bonding pad metal and back side metal
of p-Si substrate. In order to measure electrical and optical properties
of LED samples, these samples were diced into 350  350 ㎛2 chips.
3. Results and discussion
The optical transmission spectra in regions between 350 nm and
800 nm wavelength for ITO, IZO, and AZO films are shown in Fig. 2.
The ITO, IZO, and AZO films, which were deposited on glass
substrates, were annealed at 350
C, since the annealing temperature
for forming the n-electrode (Ni/Ge/Au contacts on n-GaAs) was
350
C. In visible light range, the most of transmittance of TCO films
was highly shown over 80%. ITO, IZO, and AZO films gave trans-
mission of 96%, 95%, and 91% at the wavelength of 620 nm,
respectively.
Fig. 3 shows typical currentevoltage characteristics of the LEDs
fabricated with Ag reflector and of the LEDs fabricated with
GaP/TCO/Ag ODR. The vertical AlGaInP LED with Ag reflector shows
forward bias voltage of 2.05 V at 20 mA. However, the vertical
AlGaInP LEDs with ODR structure using ITO, IZO, and AZO show
forward bias voltages of 2.1, 2.13, and 2.2 at 20 mA, respectively,
which are slightly higher than that of the AlGaInP LED with Ag
reflector. These results can be attributed to the relatively high sheet
resistance of the ITO, IZO, and AZO films. The sheet resistances of
the 40 nm-thick ITO, IZO, and AZO films were measured as 104, 105,
and 503 U/sq, respectively.
Fig. 4 exhibits the light output-current characteristics of the
AlGaInP LEDs fabricated with Ag reflector and ODR structure using
TCO. The output power of the LEDs fabricated with ODR structure
was much higher than that of the LED with Ag reflector. In addition,

100 100

90 80
Transmittance (%)

80 60
Current (mA)

70 AZO 40
GaP/AZO/Ag
IZO
GaP/IZO/Ag
60 ITO 20 GaP/ITO/Ag
o
Annealing temperature 350 C GaP/Ag
50 0
400 500 600 700 800 0 1 2 3 4 5
Wavelength (nm) Voltage (V)
Fig. 2. Optical transmission of TCO films after annealing process of 350
C. Fig. 3. Forward IeV characteristics of Ag reflector LED and TCO/Ag reflector LEDs.
 J.W. Seo et al. / Current Applied Physics 11 (2011) S385eS387 S387

scale and ideality factor of the AlGaInP LEDs fabricated with the Ag
reflector and the ODR structure using TCO are shown in Fig. 5.
However, the leakage current reduction in low bias was not
observed in Fig. 5. In addition, the AlGaInP LEDs with Ag reflector
and ODR did not induce significant changes in ideality factors.
These results imply that the enhancement in light output of the
AlGaInP LEDs with ODR cannot be attributed to the degradation of
the LEDs with Ag reflectors by annealing process.
Another possible explanation for the increased light output of
the LEDs fabricated with ODR is the higher reflectivity of ODR
structures. Kim et al. reported that GaInN LEDs with GaN/low-n
ITO/Ag ODR show a 31.6% higher light extraction efficiency than
LEDs with Ag reflector [17]. In addition, Hsu et al. reported that
a 1-mm2 AlGaInP LED employing a ODR using ITO layer showed an
external quantum efficiency of 31.8% at 100 mA [18]. Accordingly,
the enhancement in light output of the LEDs with ODR can be
attributed to the use of a highly reflective ODR and highly trans-
mission of TCO layer.

Fig. 4. Light output of the Ag reflector LED and the TCO/Ag reflector LEDs. The inset 4. Conclusion
shows brightness of same LEDs at operating current of 20 mA.
In summary, we have investigated electrical and optical prop-
erties of the vertical AlGaInP LEDs with Ag reflector and GaP/TCO/Ag
the brightness of same LEDs at operating current of 20 mA is shown
ODR structure. ITO, IZO, and AZO films showed transmittance of
in the inset of Fig. 4. The brightness at 20 mA for the ODR LED using
97%, 96%, and 91% at the wavelength of 620 nm, respectively.
ITO is 151 mcd, comparable to that of the ODR LED using IZO,
Because of highly resistivity of TCO films, AlGaInP LEDs with ODR
147 mcd. This is due to the fact that the transmittance of ITO is
structure using TCO films produced slightly higher forward voltages
higher than that of IZO. The LED with GaP/AZO/Ag ODR having the
than AlGaInP LED with Ag reflector. However, the AlGaInP LEDs with
lowest transmittance of ODR LEDs gives 137 mcd. On the other hand,
ODR structure using ITO, IZO, and AZO showed 42, 38, 29% higher
the brightness of LED with the Ag reflector is as low as 106 mcd. The
brightness at 20 mA than the AlGaInP LED with Ag reflector,
brightness of the LEDs with ODR structure using ITO, IZO, and AZO
respectively.
increased by 42%, 38%, and 29% than that of the AlGaInP LED with Ag
reflector, respectively. The light output intensity of the LEDs with
Acknowledgment
ODR corresponded with result of the transmission of TCO. We
expected that the enhancement in light output of the LEDs with ODR
This work was supported by Mid-career Researcher Program
could be related to damage of Ag reflector and higher reflectivity of
through NRF grant funded by the "MEST (No. 2009-0080313), and
ODR.
was also supported by the WCU program at Sunchon National
One possible explanation for the increased light output of the
University, and this work was supported in part by Research
AlGaInP LEDs fabricated with ODR is degradation of the Ag reflector
Foundation of Engineering College, Sunchon National University.
LED by deep level defect during the annealing process in order to
improve electrical property. Meneghesso et al. reported that the
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