Flexible topographical design of light-emitting diodes realizing electrically controllable multi-wavelength spectra

Sci Rep. 2023 Aug 4;13(1):12665. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-39791-2.

Abstract

Multi-wavelength visible light emitters play a crucial role in current solid-state lighting. Although they can be realized by combining semiconductor light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and phosphors or by assembling multiple LED chips with different wavelengths, these design approaches suffer from phosphor-related issues or complex assembly processes. These challenges are significant drawbacks for emerging applications such as visible light communication and micro-LED displays. Herein we present a platform for tailored emission wavelength integration on a single chip utilizing epitaxial growth on flexibly-designed three-dimensional topographies. This approach spontaneously arranges the local emission wavelengths of InGaN-based LED structures through the local In composition variations. As a result, we demonstrate monolithic integration of three different emission colors (violet, blue, and green) on a single chip. Furthermore, we achieve flexible spectral control via independent electrical control of each component. Our integration scheme opens the possibility for tailored spectral control in an arbitrary spectral range through monolithic multi-wavelength LEDs.