Leakage Current Characteristics of Nitride-Based InGaN Light-Emitting Diode

Leakage current characteristics have been investigated for nitride-based InGaN light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with different levels of Si-doping conditions applied to the n-type InGaN/GaN layer. The tested LED samples had an emission wavelength of 445 nm. Based on the analysis of temperature-dependent characteristics measurements, the reverse leakage current, I_R, was predominantly influenced by the lowering of Poole-Frenkel (PF) barrier for low electric field (<;2.5 × 10⁶ V/cm) and, for high electric field region (>;8 × 10⁷ V/cm), phonon-assisted tunneling (PAT) dominates the I_R mechanism. The I_R is influenced by the Si-doping density of InGaN/GaN layer that may be present near the end of depletion regions of tested samples.