Surface‐Plasmon‐Coupled Blue InGaN/GaN Micro‐LEDs with Oxide–Metal–Oxide Capping Layer Compatible to Chip Fabrication Process

ABSTRACT Blue InGaN/GaN micro‐light‐emitting diodes are promising for next‐generation displays, but their efficiency severely diminishes at dimensions below ∼5 µm due to dominant sidewall‐induced non‐radiative recombination. To overcome this fundamental limitation, we propose a multifunctional oxide‐metal‐oxide (OMO) strategy to simultaneously passivate sidewall defects and introduce a highly efficient radiative recombination pathway via localized surface plasmon (LSP)‐exciton coupling. This OMO configuration integrates conformal Al 2 O 3 layers for effective surface passivation with thermally dewetted Ag nanoparticles, which serve as plasmonic centers. By precisely aligning the LSP resonance to the blue emission wavelength (∼450 nm), the OMO‐integrated 4 × 4 µm 2 devices exhibit a 61% enhancement in micro‐photoluminescence and a further 27% increase in external quantum efficiency compared with atomic‐layer‐deposited Al 2 O 3 references. These results suggest that the plasmonic OMO sidewall architecture is a wafer‐scale process‐compatible and potentially scalable route toward high‐performance, ultra‐small micro‐LED display pixels for future display applications.

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Publication Details

Journal
Advanced Optical Materials
Published
2026-06-25
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/adom.71361
Primary Topic
GaN-based semiconductor devices and materials
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Surface‐Plasmon‐Coupled Blue InGaN/GaN Micro‐LEDs with Oxide–Metal–Oxide Capping Layer Compatible to Chip Fabrication Process

Sung‐Un Kim, A. Y. Polyakov, J. O. Kim, Jiwon Park et al.
Advanced Optical Materials
GaN-based semiconductor devices and materials
article

Surface‐Plasmon‐Coupled Blue InGaN/GaN Micro‐LEDs with Oxide–Metal–Oxide Capping Layer Compatible to Chip Fabrication Process

Sung‐Un Kim, A. Y. Polyakov, J. O. Kim, Jiwon Park, Yong‐Ho Ra, Sangbum Kim, M. Y. Choi, Seungjae Baek, Pil‐Kyu Jang, In‐Hwan Lee, Yeong-Hoon Cho, Ki Hoon Nam, Seung Min Kwak, Min‐Seok Lee, Sang-Ik Lee, Ohbin Kwon, Taehwan Kim, Lee‐Woon Jang
article en

Abstract

ABSTRACT Blue InGaN/GaN micro‐light‐emitting diodes are promising for next‐generation displays, but their efficiency severely diminishes at dimensions below ∼5 µm due to dominant sidewall‐induced non‐radiative recombination. To overcome this fundamental limitation, we propose a multifunctional oxide‐metal‐oxide (OMO) strategy to simultaneously passivate sidewall defects and introduce a highly efficient radiative recombination pathway via localized surface plasmon (LSP)‐exciton coupling. This OMO configuration integrates conformal Al 2 O 3 layers for effective surface passivation with thermally dewetted Ag nanoparticles, which serve as plasmonic centers. By precisely aligning the LSP resonance to the blue emission wavelength (∼450 nm), the OMO‐integrated 4 × 4 µm 2 devices exhibit a 61% enhancement in micro‐photoluminescence and a further 27% increase in external quantum efficiency compared with atomic‐layer‐deposited Al 2 O 3 references. These results suggest that the plasmonic OMO sidewall architecture is a wafer‐scale process‐compatible and potentially scalable route toward high‐performance, ultra‐small micro‐LED display pixels for future display applications.

Advanced Optical Materials
National University of Science and Technology (RU), Korea University (KR), National University of Science and Technology (ZW), Seoul Semiconductor (South Korea) (KR), Advanced Materials and Devices (United States) (US), Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KR), Jeonbuk National University (KR)
National Research Foundation of Korea
Openalex Percentile: Top 8%
GaN-based semiconductor devices and materials
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