GaN-based light-emitting diodes directly grown on sapphire substrate with holographically generated two-dimensional photonic crystal patterns

As an approach to enhance light extraction from GaN-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs), we inserted a submicron period photonic crystal (PC) pattern at the interface between GaN epilayer and sapphire substrate. A two-dimensional square-lattice pillar array of 600-nm period was produced directly onto the sapphire substrate by a combination of laser holography and inductively-coupled-plasma etching. A standard GaN LED heterostructure was grown on top of the nano-patterned substrate, which was then processed to conventional bottom-emitting LED chips. At the drive current of 20 mA, the PC-LED produced surface-normal output power about 40% higher than that of the reference LED (with no PC integrated). Temperature-dependent photoluminescence measurement indicated that the emission enhancement was solely a structural effect by the integrated PC pattern.