Improving modulation bandwidth of c-plane GaN-based light-emitting diodes by an ultra-thin quantum wells design

The GaN-based light emitting diodes (LEDs) have a great potential for visible light communication (VLC) due to their ubiquitous application in general lighting, but the modulation bandwidth of conventional c-plane LEDs is limited by carrier recombination rate in InGaN quantum wells (QWs) due to the polarization-field-induced quantum confined Stark effect (QCSE). Furthermore, the high modulation bandwidth on c-plane sapphire substrates can only be achieved at high current densities. Here, blue LEDs with ultra-thin InGaN QWs (1nm) and GaN barriers (3nm) are grown on c-plane sapphire substrate to suppress QCSE and extend the cut-off frequency from 214 MHz for conventional LEDs to 536 MHz at a current density of 2.5 kA/cm(2), which is comparable to devices grown on semi-polar substrates. (C) 2018 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement