LED with current confinement structure and surface roughening

摘要

A light emitting diode, LED (10), comprises a base LED structure comprising a first layer (12) of semiconductor material with an associated first contact (22) and a first surface (14) through which light is emitted; and a second layer (16) of semiconductor material with an associated second contact (24). An active region (18) is formed between the first layer (12) and the second layer (16). At least one current confinement structure (20) is integral with the LED structure and is adapted to direct current flowing toward the active region (18) away from an area (32) of the active region (18) that is coincident with an area of the current confinement structure (20).