Hybrid III-Nitride Tunnel Junctions for Low Excess Voltage Blue LEDs and UVC LEDs

The use of III-nitride tunnel junction (TJ) diodes in light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and laser diodes (LDs) has attracted much attention. However, there are concerns about using III-nitride tunnel junctions, especially in commercial devices, primarily due to the excess voltage needed to allow for tunneling. On the other hand, ultra-violet (UV) LEDs suffer from low light extraction efficiency (LEE). The use of tunnel junctions in UV LEDs can potentially double the LEE by allowing the use of highly reflective mirrors and eliminating the need for absorption p-GaN.