Enhancement of Light Extraction Efficiency of InGaN Light-Emitting Diodes with an Air-Hole-Array Structure

The truncated-conical air-hole (TAH) array structure of an InGaN light-emitting diode (LED) was fabricated on the mesa-edge region to increase the light extraction efficiency. The fabrication consisted of a dry process and a crystallographic wet etching process on the AlN buffer layer to form a truncated-conical air-hole array pattern. The light output power of the TAH-LED structure has a 55% enhancement compared with the conventional LED structure at 20 mA operation current. At 20 mA operation current, the forward voltage and peak electroluminescence wavelength of the TAH-LED were measured to be 3.09 V and 455.6 nm, respectively, similar to those of the conventional LED structure because the truncated-conical air-hole array pattern was fabricated around the mesa-edge region without affecting the current injection area with a top transparent contact layer.