Ag/SiO2 nanoparticle-based plasmonic enhancement of light output in nanohole-patterned InGaN/GaN blue light-emitting diodes

Improved performance of blue InGaN/GaN light-emitting diodes (LEDs) is realized as a result of fabricating nanohole patterns in the p-GaN contact layer and embedding the nanoholes with Ag/SiO₂ nanoparticles to generate localized surface plasmons (LSPs). Good matching between LSP resonance energy and LED emission energy together with the close proximity between nanoparticles and the active region results in strong coupling between them. Consequently, the photoluminescence and electroluminescence intensities increased to 1.75 and 1.10, respectively, compared with nanohole patterned reference LEDs.