High-performance planar light-emitting diode

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a high-performance planar LED within a single quantum well, achieving ultra-short recombination times and high efficiency, suitable for high-frequency applications in the GHz range.

Contribution

The authors introduce a novel planar LED design with significantly reduced radiative lifetime and junction area, fabricated using UV lithography on high-mobility heterostructures.

Findings

Recombination times of about 50 ps

High spectral purity and external efficiency

Potential for GHz-range high-frequency devices

Abstract

Planar light-emitting diodes (LEDs) fabricated within a single high-mobility quantum well are demonstrated. Our approach leads to a dramatic reduction of radiative lifetime and junction area with respect to conventional vertical LEDs, promising very high-frequency device operation. Devices were fabricated by UV lithography and wet chemical etching starting from p-type modulation-doped AlGaAs/GaAs heterostructures grown by molecular beam epitaxy. Electrical and optical measurements from room temperature down to 1.8 K show high spectral purity and high external efficiency. Time-resolved measurements yielded extremely short recombination times of the order of 50 ps, demonstrating the relevance of the present scheme for high-frequency device applications in the GHz range.