摘要 |
A light emitting diode is provided comprising a substrate which is transparent to the emitted light upon which a plurality of semiconductor layers, including a quantum well active layer, are formed. The materials are chosen not only for their optical characteristics but also so that many of the layers act as etch stops for layers which are formed on top of them. In addition to operational semiconductor layes which form the light emitting diode, two sacrificial semiconductor layers are formed on the substrate which serve as masks during processing and are removed prior to device metallization. An initial pattern is formed in the uppermost semiconductor layer and is transferred down through lower layers using the etch stop layers and selective etches so that further photolithography steps are unnecessary. Electrodes are formed on one side of the device by conventional metal deposition techniques and are self aligned to the LED junction.
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