Temperature Dependence of the Component Currents and Internal Quantum Efficiency in Blue Light-Emitting Diodes

• Published in: IEEE transactions on electron devices Vol. 60; no. 3; pp. 1060 - 1067
• Main Authors: KANG, Bomoon, KIM, Sang-Bae
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY IEEE 01.03.2013; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Current components; current-voltage ( I - V ) characteristics; Electronics; Exact sciences and technology; Light emitting diodes; light-emitting diodes (LEDs); Luminescence; Optoelectronic devices; quantum efficiency; Radiative recombination; Semiconductor electronics. Microelectronics. Optoelectronics. Solid state devices; Temperature; Temperature dependence; Temperature measurement; Temperature sensors; Performance evaluation; Temperature dependence; current-voltage (I―V) characteristics; Voltage current curve; Non radiative recombination; Thermal behavior; Luminescence; Quantum yield; Current components; Light emitting diode; High power; light-emitting diodes (LEDs); quantum efficiency; Optoelectronic device; Blue light; Low temperature
• ISSN: 0018-9383; 1557-9646
• DOI: 10.1109/TED.2013.2242470

We have decomposed the blue light-emitting diode (LED) current into the constituent components and studied the temperature dependence of each component and the internal quantum efficiency (IQE) quantitatively over the temperature range from 0°C to 80°C. The most temperature-sensitive current component is the nonradiative recombination current that increases with the temperature rise, and the component plays a dominant role in determining the temperature dependence of the IQE and luminescence output. Therefore, high-efficiency LEDs achieve high power and low temperature sensitivity simultaneously. On the other hand, the portion of the loss current that is responsible for the efficiency droop decreases with the temperature rise, resulting in lower droop at higher temperature. Some consequences and implications of the temperature dependence are also discussed.