Deep‐Ultraviolet Micro‐LEDs Exhibiting High Output Power and High Modulation Bandwidth Simultaneously

Abstract

Deep-ultraviolet (DUV) solar-blind communication (SBC) shows distinct advantages of non-line-of-sight propagation and background noise negligibility over conventional visible-light communication. AlGaN-based DUV micro-light-emitting diodes (µ-LEDs) are an excellent candidate for a DUV-SBC light source due to their small size, low power consumption, and high modulation bandwidth. A long-haul DUV-SBC system requires the light source exhibiting high output power, high modulation bandwidth, and high rate, simultaneously. Such a device is rarely reported. A parallel-arrayed planar (PAP) approach is here proposed to satisfy those requirements. By reducing the dimensions of the active emission mesa to micrometer scale, DUV µ-LEDs with ultrahigh power density are created due to their homogeneous injection current and enhanced planar isotropic light emission. Interconnected PAP µ-LEDs with a diameter of 25 µm are produced. This device has an output power of 83.5 mW with a density of 405 W cm^-2 at 230 mA, a wall-plug efficiency (WPE) of 4.7% at 155 mA, and a high -3 dB modulation bandwidth of 380 MHz. The remarkable high output power and efficiency make those devices a reliable platform to develop high-modulation-bandwidth wireless communication and to meet the requirements for bio-elimination.