Use of anisotropic laser etching to the top n-GaN layer to alleviate current-crowding effect in vertical-structured GaN-based light-emitting diodes

To equalize the resistance of all possible current paths in regular vertical-conducting metal-substrate GaN-based light-emitting diodes (VM-LEDs), an anisotropic laser etching to the surface layer (n-GaN) of 40 mil VM-LEDs for improving light emission uniformity and light output power is proposed and demonstrated. The feasibility of the proposed scheme was verified by current and light emission distribution as well as light extraction rate simulations. In conjunction with a nonuniform excimer laser beam irradiation through a mask and rotation of the epitaxy wafer, VM-LEDs with a concave-surface n-GaN layer were also fabricated. Typical improvement in light output power by 38%–26% at an injection current of 350 mA as compared to the one without anisotropic etching has been obtained.