VERTICAL GEOMETRY LIGHT EMITTING DIODE WITH GROUP III NITRIDE ACTIVE LAYER AND EXTENDED LIFETIME

摘要

A light emitting diode (20) emits in the blue portion of the visible spectrum and is characterized by an extended lifetime. The light emitting diode comprises a conductive silicon carbide substrate (21); an ohmic contact (22) to the silicon carbide substrate; a conductive buffer layer (23) on the substrate and selected from the group consisting of gallium nitride, aluminum nitride, indium nitride, ternary Group III nitrides having the formula AxB1-xN, where A and B are Group III elements and where x is zero, one, or a fraction between zero and one, and alloys of silicon carbide with such ternary Group III nitrides; and a double heterostructure (24) including a p-n junction on the buffer layer in which the active (25) and heterostructure layers (26, 27) are selected from the group consisting of binary Group III nitrides and ternary Group III nitrides.