GaN-Based Light-Emitting Diodes Grown on Photonic Crystal-Patterned Sapphire Substrates by Nanosphere Lithography

GaN-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs) grown on photonic crystal-patterned sapphire substrates (PCPSS) have been demonstrated. PCPSS was fabricated by nanosphere lithography, and the photonic crystal structure was the hexagonal-lattice pattern. The forward voltages of PCPSS and patterned sapphire substrates (PSS) LEDs were smaller than that of conventional sapphire substrates (CSS) LED, and it infers the epitaxial film quality of PCPSS and PSS LEDs has been slightly improved. The luminance intensity of PCPSS LED was 1.63 and 1.51 times higher than those of CSS and PSS LED at 20 mA injection current. The enhancement in the luminance intensity of PCPSS LED is attributed to the photonic crystal structure.