Deep Ultraviolet CMOS-Controlled Micro Light-Emitting Diode Array

• Published in: IEEE photonics journal Vol. 15; no. 6; pp. 1 - 6
• Main Authors: McKendry, Jonathan J.D., Xie, Enyuan, Hill, Jordan, Zimi, Hichem, Herrnsdorf, Johannes, Gu, Erdan, Henderson, Robert K., Dawson, Martin D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Piscataway IEEE 01.12.2023; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Adaptive optics; AlGaN; Aluminum gallium nitrides; Arrays; CMOS; Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS); Continuous radiation; GaN; Light emitting diodes; micro-light-emitting diodes (micro-LEDs); microdisplays; Nanosecond pulses; Optical device fabrication; Optical pulses; Optical sensors; Optical variables measurement; Pixels; Pulse measurements; ultraviolet sources; Wireless communications
• ISSN: 1943-0655; 1943-0655; 1943-0647
• DOI: 10.1109/JPHOT.2023.3330571

We report a Deep Ultraviolet (DUV) AlGaN micro-light emitting diode (micro-LED) array driven by a matching array of electronic drivers implemented in Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (CMOS) technology. This 40 × 10 pixel integrated device required improvements in micro-LED fabrication combined with control over the LED ground level in the custom designed CMOS chip. It allows each of the micro-LEDs, with a measured peak emission wavelength of 271 nm, to be addressed independently in continuous wave (CW) or nanosecond pulsed operation, with optical output powers and pulse energies per pixel of 80 μW and 0.2 pJ, respectively. Performance of this high-resolution electronically-driven array for multi-channel UV-C wireless communications is given as an example of its potentially wide-ranging uses.