Alleviate sidewall damage of InGaN green micro-LEDs by atomic layer etching
Zhiyuan Liu, Haicheng Cao, Tingang Liu, Yi Lu, xiao tang, Zixian Jiang, Na Xiao, Xiaohang Li
Abstract
In this work, atomic layer etching (ALE) technology is demonstrated to alleviate the sidewall damage generated during the mesa etching process of InGaN micro-LEDs. TEM images verify the existence of the sidewall damage and its mitigation after 200-cycle ALE sidewall treatment. The defect-related leakage current density significantly decreases from 3 × 10 −5 to 7 × 10 −6 A/cm 2 at −20 V bias through sidewall treatment. InGaN green micro-LEDs (11 µm) with ALE sidewall treatment show a more than 10% enhancement in external quantum efficiency compared to untreated reference devices. This work provides a new, to our knowledge, perspective on addressing the sidewall effect in micro-LEDs, aiding the realization of high-efficiency InGaN micro-LEDs in the near term.