Impact of Ex-Situ Heating on Carrier Kinetics in GaN/InGaN Based Green LEDs

Self-heating has long been recognized as one of the major factors for performance deterioration of III-Nitride light emitting diodes (LEDs) during prolonged operation at high current. We have emulated the impact of self-heating on carrier kinetics in InGaN based green LED (lambda similar to 516 nm at 1 mA forward current) using temperature dependent current vs voltage (T-I-V) characteristics in forward and reverse bias, where the temperature is varied from room temperature (25 degrees C) to 200 degrees C. Measured T-I-V characteristics are analyzed in detail so as to understand the dominant recombination mechanisms at different bias regimes. It is inferred that at high forward bias, Auger recombination plays a significant role during the ex-situ heating of LEDs. An exponential increase in reverse leakage current beyond a certain high temperature is attributed to the carriers attaining adequate thermal energy to escape from the active region. (c) 2021 The Electrochemical Society ("ECS"). Published on behalf of ECS by IOP Publishing Limited. [DOI: 10.1149/2162-8777/abe97c]