Mesa-free iii-v nitride light-emitting diodes with flat surface

A mesa-free pn-junction GaInN light-emitting diode (LED) structure is proposed and demonstrated. Some of the p-type top surface area of the LED epitaxial wafer is converted from p-type to n-type by means of Si-ion implantation. The resulting pn-junction LED wafer has cathode and anode contact points at the same surface height so that no dry-etching process is needed to access the n-type region. The measured specific contact resistance on the type-converted n-type layer and the light-output power of the mesa-free pn-junction LED are very comparable to those obtained by a reference LED.