Chapter 6

Light Emitting Diodes

Photoluminescence and Electroluminescence
• Electrons and holes can recombine and result in the emission of photons in
direct band gap materials. This general property of light emission is referred
to as luminescence.
• Photoluminescence is the process of photon emission from the
recombination of electrons and holes that created by photon absorption.
• Electroluminescence is the process of generating photon emission when
excess carriers result from an electric current caused by an applied electric
field
• LED is a semiconductor pn junction diode that emits visible light or near
infrared radiation when forward biased.
• LEDs exist in various colors. The most common colors are red, green,
yellow and blue LEDs.
• In addition to visible colors there are also LEDs which emit light invisible to
the human eye, infrared light.

LED with different colors (Red, green, yellow and blue)

 How LED works?

Depletion region

LED with pn-junction Band gap of semiconductor

• An electron in the conduction band return to the lower energy valence band
causes a release of energy in form of photon.
• If the photon of light has a wavelength in the visible range, "colored" light is
observed.
• The color of the emitted light is determined by
 the energy required for electrons to cross the band gap of the
semiconductor.
 the material used in the semiconductor element
• The major materials used for LEDs systems are
 Aluminum gallium indium phosphide (AlGaInP, sometimes
rearranged as AlInGaP) alloys for red, orange and yellow LED and
 Indium gallium nitride (InGaN) alloys for green, blue and white
LEDs. Slight changes in the composition of these alloys changes the
color of the emitted light
• LED is observed in semiconductor junction with direct band gap

Direct band gap Indirect band gap: exam. Si and Ge

• In indirect band gap, the momentum of electron change during recombination

of electrons and holes. Therefore the energy released in this process mostly
utilized to change electron momentum rather than emitting in the form of
photon.
• In direct band gap semiconductor the electron-hole recombination emit light
with different colors
 pn junction
• When p- and n-type semiconductors are brought together to form a p-n
junction, electrons diffuse from the n-side to the p-side and holes diffuse
from the p-side to the n-side.
• In the process, built in potential (Vbi) is generated in the depletion layer
between the n-type and the p-type material. This built in potential prevents
more electrons and holes from leaving the n- and p-regions, respectively.
• When an external forward biased voltage V is applied, the potential barrier
is reduced. At Vext ~ Vin, the height of the barrier is approximately zero and
electrons can flow from the n-side to the p-side and recombine the charge
carriers and in the process emit light with different colors based on the band
gap and types of materials used.
• The emitted light energy or photon
E = hf =hc/λ 𝐸 𝛼 𝑓

Relationship between LED Color, Wavelength and Energy of emitted Light

Color IR Red Orange Yellow Green Blue

Threshold 1.3V 1.6V-1.8V 2V 2.2V 2.4V 4V-4.5V
voltage

• The threshold voltage of LED depends on the colors of LED

• Threshold voltage is a minimum applied voltage that must be present between
the anode and cathode in order for current to flow. If the anode voltage is not
greater than at least Vth, no current will flow through the diode.
• The maximum emission wavelength from a direct band gap semiconductor
materials is related to the band gap energy.
λ = hc/Eg = 1.2umeV/Eg
 Advantage of LED
1. Longer Life : have longer operational lifetime expectations that far surpass
incandescent lights
2. Energy Efficiency: are more energy efficient
3. Ecologically Friendly
4. Durable Quality : withstand rough conditions as they are less breakable
4. Zero UV Emissions: give off virtually no UV emissions
5. Design Flexibility: provides powerful flexible design features7
6. Operational in Extremely Cold or Hot Temperatures
7. Instant Lighting & Frequent Switching: can cycle on and off, instantly and
repeatedly10
8. Low-Voltage: can run on low-voltage power4
 Disadvantages
1. A slight excess of voltage or current can damage the device.
2. Potential color shift over lamp life.
3. Performance standardization has not yet been streamlined.
4. Overheating can cause reduced lamp life.
 LED Components.
• Epoxy Lens/Case : has three major functions.
 designed to allow most of the light to escape from the semiconductor.
 it focuses the light (view angle) and
 it protects the LED semiconductor from outside elements.
• The epoxy totally embeds the entire unit which makes the LED virtually
indestructible. There are no loose or moving parts within the solid epoxy
enclosure.
• Wire Bond – The wire bond is typically an interconnection between the
anode (positive side) and the cathode (negative side).
• Reflective Cavity – The reflective cavity’s purpose is to make the LED’s
light be brighter by focusing its light into a single point.
• Semiconductor Die – is a small block of semiconducting material, on which
a given functional circuit is fabricated. It is the heart of any electronic
products and contains a lot of integrated circuits and full of intelligence
associated with it.
• Post and Anvil– are two leads of LED that are used to supply input
voltage. The longer lead is positive and known as Post, and the smaller is
negative known as Anvil. So basically, the anvil and the post determines the
polarity of the two leads. The Anvil is also used to physically hold the chip,
provide some heat-sinking, and provide some directivity to the emitted light.
Rate equations, Quantum Efficiency & Power of LEDs
• Carrier generation and recombination processes are fundamental to the
operation of many optoelectronics semiconductor devices, such as LED.
• When there is no external carrier injection, the excess density decays
exponentially due to electron-hole recombination.
𝑛 𝑡 = 𝑛0 𝑒 −𝑡/𝜏
n is the carrier density at time t, n0 is initial carrier density and 𝜏 carrier lifetime
• Recombination rate R:
−𝑑𝑛 𝑛
𝑅= =
𝑑𝑡 𝜏

• Total recombination rate (R)=Radiative recombination rate + non-radiative

recombination rate
R=Rr + Rnr
𝑛(𝑡) 𝑛(𝑡) 𝑛(𝑡)
= +
𝜏 𝜏𝑟 𝜏𝑛𝑟

1 1 1
= +
𝜏 𝜏𝑟 𝜏𝑛𝑟

• Radiative recombination is a process in which a photon is emitted during

charge carries recombine.
• Non-radiative recombination is a process in which charge carriers recombine
without releasing photons and is an unwanted process in optoelectronics
because it lowering the light generation efficiency and increasing heat losses.
• With an external supplied current density of J, the rate equation for the
electron-hole recombination is:
𝑑𝑛(𝑡) 𝐽 𝑛
= −
𝑑𝑡 𝑞𝑑 𝜏

Where q charge of electron, d thickness of recombination region

• In equilibrium condition: dn(t)/dt=0
𝐽𝜏
𝑛=
𝑔𝑑
 Internal Quantum Efficiency & Optical Power
• The internal quantum efficiency (IQE) of an LED is determined by the ratio
of the radiative recombination rate to the recombination rate due to all
processes:
𝑹𝒓 𝝉𝒏𝒓
𝜼𝒊𝒏𝒕 = =
𝑹𝒓 +𝑹𝒏𝒓 𝝉𝒓 +𝝉𝒏𝒓

• Optical power generated internally in the active region in the LED given by:
𝐼 ℎ𝑐𝐼
𝑃𝑖𝑛𝑡 = 𝜂𝑖𝑛𝑡 ℎ𝑓 = 𝜂𝑖𝑛𝑡
𝑞 𝑞𝜆

Pint=internal optical power and I injected current to active region

Exercise:A GaAs LED radiates at 900 nm. If the forward current in the LED is
20 mA, calculate the power output, assuming an internal quantum efficiency of
2%.
 External Quantum Efficiency
• The ratio of the number of photons emitted from the LED to the number of
electrons passing through the device - in other words, how efficiently the
device coverts electrons to photons and allows them to escape.

# 𝑜𝑓 𝑝ℎ𝑜𝑡𝑜𝑛 𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝐿𝐸𝐷 𝑃ℎ𝑜𝑡𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝜙

𝑠
ηext= = 𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑠 =
# 𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑠 𝐼

Where 𝜙 is the measured photon flux and I is injected current.

# 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒉𝒐𝒕𝒐𝒏 𝒆𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝑳𝑬𝑫
𝜼𝒆𝒙𝒕 =
# 𝒐𝒇 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒑𝒉𝒐𝒕𝒐𝒏𝒔

• In order to calculate the external quantum efficiency, we need to consider the

reflection effects at the surface of the LED. If we consider the LED structure
as a simple 2D slab waveguide, only light falling within a cone defined by
critical angle will be emitted from an LED.