Evaluation of Light Extraction Efficiency of GaN-Based Nanorod Light-Emitting Diodes by Averaging over Source Positions and Polarizations

Light extraction efficiency (LEE) of GaN-based nanorod blue light-emitting diode (LED) structures is investigated using finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulations. When the LEE is calculated for different source positions inside the nanorod, the LEE is found to depend strongly on the source positions and the polarization directions for each source position, implying that the LEE of nanorod LED structures should be evaluated by averaging over source positions and polarization directions for determining the LEE accurately. The averaged LEE of nanorod LED structures is simulated as the radius, the p-GaN thickness, and the n-GaN thickness is varied, and the optimum structural parameters can be obtained. In addition, the far-field pattern is simulated when considering the averaging effects, and the circularly symmetric and uniform emission distribution is obtained.