Enhancing the optical and electrical properties of AlGaN ultraviolet-C micro-LED via a hybrid scheme of plasma and chemical treatment

Abstract

Ultraviolet band C (UV-C) micro light-emitting diodes (micro-LEDs) provide a high energy light emission of 200–280 nm, which are brilliantly utilized in optogenetics, communications, and fluorescence. However, the limited device efficiency notably restricts the grand potential application field. In this work, three types of 20 × 20  μm2 UV-C micro-LEDs with the peak wavelength of 269 nm are fabricated by different etching strategies, including an inductively coupled plasma (ICP), post-ICP tetramethylammonium hydroxide, and a hybrid scheme combining plasma and chemical treatment. By enhancing the radiative recombination and light extraction, the hybrid scheme improves the peak external quantum efficiency of UV-C micro-LEDs to 3.45%, an elevation of 57.5% compared with ICP. A step advance in the forward injection current and ideality factor is also found on the devices fabricated by the hybrid scheme due to better contact on the AlGaN surface.