Leakage Current Characteristics of Nitride-Based InGaN Light-Emitting Diode

Leakage current characteristics have been investigated for nitride-based InGaN light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with different levels of Si-doping conditions applied to the n-type InGaN/GaN layer. The tested LED samples had an emission wavelength of 445 nm. Based on the analysis of temperature-dependent characteristics measurements, the reverse leakage current, I
_R
, was predominantly influenced by the lowering of Poole-Frenkel (PF) barrier for low electric field (<;2.5 × 10
⁶
V/cm) and, for high electric field region (>;8 × 10
⁷
V/cm), phonon-assisted tunneling (PAT) dominates the I
_R
mechanism. The I
_R
is influenced by the Si-doping density of InGaN/GaN layer that may be present near the end of depletion regions of tested samples.