Near-Complete Elimination of Size-Dependent Efficiency Decrease in GaN Micro-Light-Emitting Diodes

Herein, a successful elimination of the size-dependent efficiency decrease in GaN micro-light-emitting diodes (micro-LEDs) is achieved using damage-free neutral beam etching (NBE). The NBE technique, which can obtain ultralow-damage etching of GaN materials, is used in place of the conventional inductively coupled plasma to form the micro-LED mesa. It is found that all the fabricated micro-LEDs with sizes ranging from 40 to 6 μm show external quantum efficiency (EQE) versus current density characteristics similar to those of large-area GaN LEDs, with a maximum in EQE curves at a current density of as low as about 5 A cm⁻². Furthermore, all the fabricated micro-LEDs, even the 6 μm one, show a similar value of maximum EQE with a variation of less than 10%, clearly indicating a negligible size dependence of emission efficiency of micro-LEDs fabricated by the NBE technique at least down to the size of 6 μm. These results suggest that the NBE process is a promising method of fabricating high-efficiency sub-10 μm GaN micro-LEDs required for high-efficiency, high-brightness, and high-resolution micro-LED displays.