This study suggested comprehensive structural characterization methods for the commercial blue light emitting diodes(LEDs). By using the Z-contrast intensity profile of Cs-corrected high-angle annular dark field scanning transmission electron microscope(HAADF-STEM) images from a commercial lateral GaN-based blue light emitting diode, we obtained important structural information on the epilayer structure of the LED, which would have beendifficult to obtain by conventional analysis. This method was simple but very powerful to obtain structural and chemical information on epi-structures in a nanometer-scale resolution. One of the examples was that we could determine whether the barrier in the multi-quantum well(MQW) was GaN or InGaN. Plan-view TEM observations were performed from the commercial blue LED to characterize the threading dislocations(TDs) and the related V-pit defects. Each TD observed in the region with the total LED epilayer structure including the MQW showed V-pit defects for almost of TDs independent of the TD types: edge-, screw-, mixed TDs. The total TD density from the region with the total LED epilayer structure including the MQW was about 3.6 × 108 cm−2 with a relative ratio of Edge- : Screw- :Mixed-TD portion as 80%: 7%: 13%. However, in the mesa etched region without the MQW total TD density was about 2.5 × 108 cm−2 with a relative ratio of Edge- : Screw- :Mixed TD portion of 86%: 5%: 9 %. The higher TD density in the total LED epilayer structure implied new generation of TDs mostly from the MQW region.

In this paper, we studied a p-type reflector based on indium tin oxide (ITO) for vertical-type ultraviolet light-emitting diodes (UV LEDs). We investigated the reflectance properties with different deposition methods. An ITO layer with a thickness of 50 nm was deposited by two different methods, sputtering and e-beam evaporation. From the measurement of the optical reflection, we obtained 70% reflectance at a wavelength of 382 nm by means of sputtering, while only 30% reflectance resulted when using the e-beam evaporation method. Also, the light output power of a 1mm×1mm vertical chip created with the sputtering method recorded a twofold increase over a chip created with e-beam evaporation method. From the measurement of the root mean square (RMS), we obtained a RMS value 1.3 nm for the ITO layer using the sputtering method, while this value was 5.6 nm for the ITO layer when using the e-beam evaporation method. These decreases in the reflectance and light output power when using the e-beam evaporation method are thought to stem from the rough surface morphology of the ITO layer, which leads to diffused reflection and the absorption of light. However, the turn-on voltage and operation voltage of the two samples showed identical results of 2.42 V and 3.5 V, respectively. Given these results, we conclude that the two ITO layers created by different deposition methods showed no differences in the electric properties of the ohmic contact and series resistance.