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1999 by CRC Press LLC
IIghIImIIIIng LIodo
LIspIuys
A light-emitting diode (LED) is a paiticulai solid-state -n junction diode that gives out light upon the
application of a bias voltage. The luminescence piocess in this case is electioluminescence, which is
associated with emission wavelengths in the visible and infiaied iegions of the spectium. When a foiwaid
bias is applied to the -n junction diode, caiiieis aie injected into the depletion iegion in laige numbeis.
Because of theii physical pioximity, the election-hole paiis undeigo a iecombination that is associated
with the emission of eneigy. Depending on the semiconductoi band-gap chaiacteiistics, this emitted
eneigy can be in the foim of heat (as phonons) oi light (as photons).
The solution of the Schidingei equation foi a typical ciystal ieveals the existence of Biillouin zones.
A plot between the eneigy E of an election in a solid and its wave vectoi k iepiesents the allowed eneigy
bands. It may be noted that the lattice stiuctuie affects the motion of an election when | is close to nr/|
(wheie n is any integei and | is the ciystal peiiodicity) and the effect of this constiaint is to intioduce
an eneigy band gap between the allowed eneigy bands. Figuie 95.1a shows poitions of two E vs. | cuives
foi neighboiing eneigy bands within the iegions | r/| and | -r/| (also known as the ieduced zone).
While the uppei band of Fig. 95.1 iepiesents the eneigy of conduction band elections, the cuivatuie
of the lowei band can be associated with elections having negative effective mass. The concept of negative
effective mass can ieadily be identifed with the concept of holes in the valence band. While the majoiity
of the elections aie identifed with the minima of the uppei E-| cuive, the majoiity of the holes aie
identifed with the maxima of the lowei E-| cuive. The minimum value of the conduction band and the
maximum value of the valence band in Fig. 95.1a both have identical | values. A semiconductoi having
such a chaiacteiistic is said to have a diiect band gap, and the associated iecombination in such a
semiconductoi is iefeiied to as diiect.
The Jret retom|naon of an election-hole paii always iesults in the emission of a photon. In a diiect
band-gap semiconductoi, the emitted photon is not associated with any change in momentum (given
by ||/2r) since A| 0. Howevei, foi some semiconducting mateiials, the E vs. | cuive may be somewhat
diffeient, as shown in Fig. 95.1b. While the minimum conduction band eneigy can have a nonzeio |,
the maximum valence band eneigy can have | 0. The election-hole iecombination in such a semicon-
ductoi is iefeiied to as indiiect.
An nJret retom|naon piocess involves a momentum adjustment. Most of the emission eneigy is
thus expended in the foim of heat (as phonons). Veiy little eneigy is left foi the puipose of photon
emission, which in most cases is a veiy slow piocess. Fuitheimoie, since both photons and phonons aie
involved in this eneigy exchange, such tiansitions aie less likely to occui. The inteiband iecombination
iate is basically given by
ohummud . KurIm
!n!\crs!y oI Tcnncsscc, Kno\!!!c
1999 by CRC Press LLC
(95.1)
wheie B
i
is a iecombination-dependent constant which foi a diiect band-gap semiconductoi is ~10
6
times laigei than that foi an indiiect band-gap semiconductoi. Foi diiect iecombination, B
i
value ianges
fiom 0.46 10
-10
to 7.2 10
-10
cm
3
/s.
All semiconductoi ciystal lattices aie alike, being dissimilai only in teims of theii band chaiacteiistics.
Si and Ge both have indiiect band tiansitions, wheieas GaAs, foi example, is a semiconductoi that has
a diiect band tiansition. Thus, while Si and Ge aie piefeiied foi fabiication of tiansistois and integiated
ciicuits, GaAs is piefeiied foi the fabiication of LEDs.
The diiect iecombination (when | constant) iesults in a photon emission whose wavelength (in
miciometeis) is given by
(95.2)
wheie E
g
is the band-gap eneigy. The LEDs undei piopei foiwaid-biased conditions can opeiate in the
ultiaviolet, visible, and infiaied iegions. Foi the visible iegion, howevei, the spectial luminous effciency
cuives of Fig. 95.2, which account foi the fact that the visual iesponse to any emission is a function of
wavelength, should be of concein. It is unfoitunate that theie is not a single-element semiconductoi suitable
foi fabiication of LEDs, but theie aie many binaiy and teinaiy compounds that can be used foi fabiication
of LEDs. Table 95.1 lists some of these binaiy semiconductoi mateiials. The teinaiy semiconductois include
GaAlAs, CdGeP
2
, and ZnGeP
2
foi infiaied iegion opeiation, CuGaS
2
and AgInS
2
foi visible iegion opeiation,
and CuAlS
2
foi ultiaviolet iegion opeiation. Teinaiy semiconductois aie used because theii eneigy gaps
can be tuned to a desiied emission wavelength by picking appiopiiate composition.
Of the teinaiy compounds, gallium aisenide-phosphide (wiitten as GaAs
1-x
P
x
) is an example that is
basically a combination of two binaiy semiconductois, namely, GaAs and GaP. The coiiesponding band-
gap eneigy of the semiconductoi can be vaiied by changing the value of x. Foi example, when x 0, E
g
1.43 eV. E
g
incieases with incieasing x until x 0.44 and E
g
1.977 eV, as shown in Fig. 95.3. Howevei
foi x > 0.45, the band gap is indiiect. The most common composition of GaAs
1-x
P
x
used in LEDs has x
0.4 and E
g
1.3 eV. This band-gap eneigy coiiesponds to an emission of ied light. Calculatois and
watches often use this paiticulai composition of GaAs
1-x
P
x
.
Inteiestingly, the indiiect band gap of GaAs
1-x
P
x
(with 1 > x > 0.45) can be used to output light ianging
fiom yellow thiough gieen piovided the semiconductoi is doped with impuiities such as nitiogen. The
dopants intioduced in the semiconductoi ieplace phosphoius atoms which, in tuin, intioduce election
tiap levels veiy neai the conduction band. Foi example, x 0.5, the doping of nitiogen incieases the
LED effciency foim 0.01 to 1%, as shown in Fig. 95.4. It must be noted, howevei, that nitiogen doping
FIGURE 95.1 E veisus | foi semiconductois having (a) a diiect band gap and (b) an indiiect band gap.

Jn J B n
i

i |t E E
g g
eV) 1 24 . (
shifts the peak emission wavelength towaid the ied. The shift is compaiatively laigei at and aiound x
0.05 than x 1.0. The eneigy emission in nitiogen-doped GaAs
1-x
P
x
devices is a function of both x and
the nitiogen concentiation.
Nitiogen is a diffeient type of impuiity fiom those commonly encounteied in extiinsic semiconduc-
tois. Nitiogen, like aisenic and phosphoius, has fve valence elections, but it intioduces no net chaige
caiiieis in the lattice. It piovides active iadiative iecombination centeis in the indiiect band-gap mateiials.
Foi an election, a iecombination centei is an empty state in the band gap into which an election falls
and, then, theieaftei, falls into the valence band by iecombining with a hole. Foi example, while a GaP
LED emits gieen light (2.23 eV), a nitiogen-doped GaP LED emits yellowish gieen light (2.19 eV), and
a heavily nitiogen-doped GaP LED emits yellow light (2.1 eV).
The injected excess caiiieis in a semiconductoi may iecombine eithei iadiatively oi noniadiatively.
Wheieas noniadiative iecombination geneiates phonons, iadiative iecombination pioduces photons.
FIGURE 95.2 Spectial luminous effciency cuives. The
photopic cuive V
d
coiiesponds to the daylight-adapted case
while the scotopic cuive V
n
coiiesponds to the night-
adapted case.
TABLE 95.1 Binaiy Semiconductois Suitable
foi LED Fabiication
Mateiial E
g
(eV) Emission Type
III-V GaN 3.5 UV
II-VI ZnS 3.8 UV
II-VI SnO
2
3.5 UV
II-VI ZnO 3.2 UV
III-VII CuCl 3.1 UV
II-VI BeTe 2.8 UV
III-VII CuBi 2.9 UV - visible
II-VI ZnSe 2.7 Visible
III-VI In
2
O
3
2.7 Visible
II-VI CdS 2.52 Visible
II-VI ZnTe 2.3 Visible
III-V GaAs 1.45 IR
II-VI CdSe 1.75 IR - Visible
II-VI CdTe 1.5 IR
III-VI GaSe 2.1 Visible
+JJ 5JJ JJ JJ
J.3
1.J
J.
J.+
J.2
J
w av e| er || r a )
v
r
v
1
1999 by CRC Press LLC
1999 by CRC Press LLC
Consequently, the inteinal quantum effciency q, defned as the iatio of the iadiative iecombination iate
R
i
to the total iecombination iate, is given by
(95.3)
wheie R
ni
is the noniadiative iecombination iate. Howevei, the injected excess caiiiei densities ietuin
to theii value exponentially as
FIGURE 95.3 Band-gap eneigy veisus x in GaAs
1-x
P
x
. (Fiom
Casey, H.J., Ji. and Paiish, M.B., Eds., Heerosruture Lasers,
Academic Piess, New Yoik, 1978. With peimission.)
FIGURE 95.4 The effects of nitiogen doping in GaAs
1-x
P
x
: (a) quantum effciency vs. x and (b) peak emission
wavelength vs. x.

q +
, ,
R R R
i i ni
1999 by CRC Press LLC
(95.4)
wheie t is the caiiiei lifetime and An
0
is the excess election density at equilibiium. Since An/R
i
and
An/R
ni
aie, iespectively, equivalent to the iadiative iecombination lifetime t
i
and the noniadiative iecom-
bination lifetime t
ni
, we can obtain the effective minoiity caiiiei bulk iecombination time t as
(95.5)
such that q t/t
i
. The ieason that a fast iecombination time is ciucial is that the longei the caiiiei
iemains in an excited state, the laigei the piobability that it will give out eneigy noniadiatively. In oidei
foi the inteinal quantum effciency to be high, the iadiative lifetime t
i
needs to be small. Foi indiiect
band-gap semiconductois, t
i
>> t
ni
so that veiy little light is geneiated, and foi diiect band-gap semi-
conductois, t
i
incieases with tempeiatuie so that the inteinal quantum effciency deteiioiates with the
tempeiatuie.
As long as the LEDs aie used as display devices, it is not too impoitant to have fast iesponse chaiac-
teiistics. Howevei, LEDs aie also used foi the puipose of optical communications, and foi those appli-
cations it is appiopiiate to study theii time iesponse chaiacteiistics. Foi example, an LED can be used
in conjunction with a photodetectoi foi tiansmitting optical infoimation between two points. The LED
light output can be modulated to convey optical infoimation by vaiying the diode cuiient. Most often,
the tiansmission of optical signals is facilitated by intioducing an optical fbei between the LED and the
photodetectoi.
Theie can be two diffeient types of capacitances in diodes that can inuence the behavioi of the
minoiity caiiieis. One of these is the ,unton taatante, which is caused by the vaiiation of majoiity
chaige in the depletion layei. While it is inveisely piopoitional to the squaie ioot of bias voltage in the
case of an abiupt junction, it is inveisely piopoitional to the cube ioot of bias voltage in the case of a
lineaily giaded junction. The second type of capacitance, known as the J[[uson taatante, is caused
by the minoiity caiiieis.
Considei an LED that is foiwaid biased with a dc voltage. Considei fuithei that the bias is peituibed
by a small sinusoidal signal. When the bias is withdiawn oi ieduced, chaige begins to diffuse fiom the
junction as a iesult of iecombination until an equilibiium condition is achieved. Consequently, as a
iesponse to the signal voltage, the minoiity caiiiei distiibution contiibutes to a signal cuiient.
Considei a one-dimensional -type semiconducting mateiial of cioss-sectional aiea whose excess
minoiity caiiiei density is given by
(95.6)
As a diiect consequence of the applied sinusoidal signal, the excess election distiibution uctuates about
its dc value. In fact, we may assume excess minoiity caiiiei density to have a time-vaiying component
as desciibed by
(95.7)
wheie <An
p
(x)> is a time-invaiiant quantity. By intioducing Eq. 95.7 into Eq. 95.6, we get two sepaiate
diffeiential equations:
(95.8a)
and

A A A n n e



0
/t

1 1 1 t t t
, ,

, ,
+
, , i ni

o o o o t A A A n D n x n
p n p p

2 2

A A n x n x n x e
,
p p p
( , ) ( ) ( ) +
u

o o
2 2
2
x n x n x L A A
p p n
( ) ( )
, ,

, ,
1999 by CRC Press LLC
(95.8b)
wheie
(95.9a)
and
(95.9b)
The dc solution of Eq. 95.8a is well known. Again, the foim of Eq. 95.8b is similai to that of Eq. 95.8a
and, theiefoie, its solution is given by
(95.10)
Since the fiequency-dependent cuiient I(u) is simply a pioduct of eD
n
and the concentiation giadient,
we fnd that
(95.11)
wheie I(0) is the intensity emitted at zeio modulation fiequency. We can deteimine the admittance next
by dividing the cuiient by the peituibing voltage. The ieal pait of the admittance, in this case, will be
equivalent to the diode conductance, wheieas its imaginaiy pait will coiiespond to the diffusion capacitive
susceptance.
The modulation iesponse as given by Eq. 95.11 is, howevei, limited by the caiiiei iecombination time.
Often an LED is chaiacteiized by its modulation bandwidth, which is defned as the fiequency band ovei
which signal powei (piopoitional to I
2
(w)) is half of that at u 0. Using Eq. 95.11, the 3-dB modulation
bandwidth is given by
(95.12)
wheie the bulk lifetime has been appioximated by the iadiative lifetime. Some times the 3-dB bandwidth
of the LED is given by I(u)
1
/
2
I(0), but this simplifcation contiibutes to an eiioneous inciease in the
bandwidth by a factoi of 1.732.
Undei conditions of theimal equilibiium, the iecombination iate is piopoitional to the pioduct of
initial caiiiei concentiations, n
0
and
0
. Then, undei nonequilibiium conditions, additional caiiieis An
A aie injected into the mateiial. Consequently, the iecombination iate of injected excess caiiiei
densities is given by initial caiiiei concentiations and injected caiiiei densities as
(95.13)

o o
2 2
2
x n x n x L A A


p p n
( ) ( )

L L ,
n

n
+
, ,
1
1 2
ut
/

L D
n n

, ,
t
1 2 /

A A

n x n e

x L
( ) ( )
/
0

I eD Jn x Jx
I
n
x
( ) ( )
( )
/
u
u t

+
, ,
0
2 2
1 2
0 1

Au t -1
i

R B n n B n
B n n n
A
A A
A A
i i o o i o o
i o o
+
, ,
+
, ,


+ +
, ,
1999 by CRC Press LLC
wheie B
i
is the same constant intioduced in Eq. 95.1. Foi -type GaAs, foi example, B
i
1.7 10
-10
cm
3
/s when
0
2.4 10
18
holes/cm
3
. Equation 95.13 is used to defne the iadiative caiiiei iecombination
lifetime by
(95.14)
In the steady-state condition, the excess caiiiei density can be calculated in teims of the active iegion
width J by
(95.15)
wheie J is the injection cuiient density.
The iadiative iecombination lifetime is found by solving Eq. 95.14 aftei having eliminated An fiom it
using Eq. 95.15:
(95.16)
Thus, while foi the low caiiiei injection (i.e., n
o
-

o
>> An), Eq. 95.16 ieduces to
(95.17a)
foi the high caiiiei injection (i.e., n
o
-
o
<< An), it ieduces to
(95.17b)
Equation 95.17a indicates that in highly doped semiconductois, t
i
is small. But the doping piocess has
its own pioblem, since in many of the binaiy LED compounds highei doping may intioduce noniadiative
tiaps just below the conduction band, thus nullifying Eq. 95.12. In compaiison to Eq. 95.17a, Eq. 95.17b
piovides a bettei alteinative wheieby t
i
can be ieduced by decieasing the active iegion width oi by
incieasing the cuiient density. Foi the case of -type GaAs, the iadiative lifetimes vaiy between 2.6 and
0.35 ns, iespectively, when
0
vaiies between 1.0 10
18
holes/cm
3
and 1.5 10
19
holes/cm
3
.
Usually, LEDs aie opeiated at low cuiient (-10 mA) and low voltages (-1.5 V), and they can be
switched on and off in the oidei of 10 ns. In addition, because of theii small sizes, they can be ieasonably
tieated as point souices. It is, theiefoie, not suipiising that they aie highly piefeiied ovei othei light
souices foi applications in fbei-optic data links.
Two paiticulai LED designs aie populai: sur[ate emers and eJge emers. They aie shown in Fig.
95.5. In the foimei, the diiection of majoi emission is noimal to the plane of the active iegion, wheieas
in the lattei the diiection of majoi emission is in the plane of the active iegion. The emission pattein of
the suiface emitteis is veiy much isotiopic, wheieas that of the edge emitteis is highly diiectional.
As the LED light oiiginating fiom a medium of iefiactive index n
1
goes to anothei medium of iefiactive
index n
2
(n
2
< n
1
), only a poition of incident light is tiansmitted. In paiticulai, the poition of the emitted
light coiiesponds to only that which oiiginates fiom within a cone of semiapex angle
c
, such that
(95.18)

t
i i i o o
+ +
, ,

A A
A
n R B n n
1

An J eJ t
i
t
i o o i o o
n +
, ,
+
, ,

+
, ,

1
]
1
1
, ,
J B eJ n J eJ
2
1 2
4 2
/

t
i i o o
- +
, ,

B n
1 2 /

t
i i
-
, ,
eJ JB
1 2 /

c

, ,

sin
1
2 1
n n
1999 by CRC Press LLC
In the case of an LED, n
1
coiiesponds to the iefiactive index of the LED medium and n
2
coiiesponds to
that of aii (oi vacuum). Light oiiginating fiom |eyonJ angle
c
undeigoes a total inteinal ieection.
Howevei, the light diiected fiom w|n the cone of the semiapex angle
c
will be subjected to Fiesnels
loss. Thus, the oveiall tiansmittance T is given by
(95.19)
Accoidingly, the total electiical-to-optical conveision effciency in LEDs is given by
(95.20)
Only two schemes inciease the electiical-to-optical conveision effciency in an LED. The fist technique
involves guaianteeing that most of the incident iays stiike the glass-to-aii inteiface at angles less than

c
. It is accomplished by making the semiconductoi-aii inteiface hemispheiical. The second method
involves schemes wheieby the LED is encapsulated in an almost tianspaient medium of high iefiactive
index. The lattei means is compaiatively less expensive. If a glass of iefiactive index 1.5 is used foi
encapsulation, the LED effciency can be incieased by a factoi of 3. Two of the possible encapsulation
aiiangements and the coiiesponding iadiation patteins aie illustiated in Fig. 95.6.
LEDs aie often used in conjunction with a phototiansistoi to function as an optocouplei. The opto-
coupleis aie used in ciicumstances when it is desiiable to have a tiansmission of signals between
electiically isolated ciicuits. They aie used to achieve noise sepaiation by eliminating the necessity of
having a common giound between the two systems. Depending on the type of coupling mateiial, these
miniatuie devices can piovide both noise isolation as well as high voltage isolation. Figuie 95.7 shows a
typical case wheie two optocoupleis aie used to attain a choppei ciicuit. The two optocoupleis chop
eithei the positive oi the negative poition of the input signals with a fiequency of one half that of the
contiol signal that is intioduced at the T ip-op. The opeiational amplifei piovides an amplifed veision
of the chopped output wavefoim. In compaiison, a choppei ciicuit that uses simple bipolai tiansistois
pioduces noise spikes in the output because of its inheient capacitive coupling.
The visible LEDs aie best known foi theii uses in displays and indicatoi lamps. In applications wheie
moie than a single souice of light is iequiied, an LED aiiay can be utilized. An LED aiiay is a device
FIGURE 95.5 LED type: (a) suiface emittei and (b) edge emittei.

T n n n n
, ,
+
, , }
1
1 2 1 2
2

q r

LED
c
c
(solid angle within the cone) (4 )

, ,

, ,

, ,

, , , ,

, ,
+
, , }

1
]
1
T
T
T
n n n n n n
2 1
4
1 4 1
2
2 1
2
1 2 1 2
2
cos
sin
1999 by CRC Press LLC
consisting of a iow of disciete LEDs connected togethei within oi without a common ieectoi cavity.
Figuie 95.8a shows diffeient LED aiiangements foi displaying hexadecimal numeiic and alphanumeiic
chaiacteis, wheieas Fig. 95.8b shows, foi example, the possible alphanumeiic chaiacteis using 16-segment
displays. In digital systems, the binaiy codes equivalent to these chaiacteis aie usually decoded and,
consequently, a specifc combination of LED segments aie tuined on to display the desiied alphanumeiic
chaiactei.
The dot matiix display piovides the most desiiable display font. It gives moie exibility in shaping
chaiacteis and has a lowei piobability of being misinteipieted in case of a display failuie. Howevei, these
displays involve a laige numbei of wiies and incieased ciicuit complexity. LED displays, in geneial, have
an excellent viewing angle, high iesonance speed (-10 ns), long life, and supeiioi inteiface capability
with electionics with almost no duty cycle limitation. LEDs with blue emission aie not available com-
meicially. When compaied with passive displays, LED displays consume moie powei and involve com-
plicated wiiing with at least one wiie pei display element.
FIGURE 95.6 LED encapsulation geome-
tiies and theii iadiation patteins.
FIGURE 95.7 A chopping ciicuit with an amplifei.
1999 by CRC Press LLC

M.A. Kaiim, E|etro-Ota| Detes anJ Sysems, Boston: PWS-Kent Publishing, 1990.
M.A. Kaiim (ed.), E|etro-Ota| Ds|ays, New Yoik: Maicel Dekkei, 1992.
L.E. Tannas, Ji. (ed.), F|a-Pane| Ds|ays anJ CRTs, New Yoik: Van Nostiand Reinhold, 1985.
T. Uchida, Multicoloied Liquid Ciystal Displays, O. Eng., 23, 247-252, 1984.
J. Wilson and J.F.B. Hawkes, Ooe|etronts. n InroJuton, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Pientice-Hall Intei-
national, 1985.
FIGURE 95.8 (a) LED display foimats; and (b) displayed alphanumeiic chaiacteis using 16-segment displays.

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