Enhanced performance of GaN-based green light-emitting diodes with gallium-doped ZnO transparent conducting oxide

Ga-doped ZnO (GZO) transparent conducting oxide was grown by oxygen plasma-enhanced pulsed laser deposition. GZO grown in the presence of oxygen radicals had resistivity of 1 × 10^-3 Ω cm and average visible (500-700 nm) transmittance of 92.5%. A low specific contact resistance of 6.5 × 10^-4 Ω cm² of GZO on p-GaN was achieved by excimer laser annealing (ELA) treatment of p-GaN before GZO electrode deposition. The ELA-treated light emitting diode (LED) fabricated with the GZO electrode as a current-spreading layer resulted in light-output power enhanced by 56.2% at 100 mA compared with that fabricated with a conventional Ni/Au metal electrode. The high-light output and low degradation of light-output power were attributed to the decrease in contact resistance between the p-GaN layer and the GZO electrode and uniform current spreading over the p-GaN layer. In addition, low contact resistance results in a decrease of self-heat generation during current drive.