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US 10,374,128 B2Granted
Electrical contacts to light-emitting diodes for improved current spreading and injection
AssigneeTerahertz Device Corporation
InventorMark S. Miller
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An optoelectric device can comprise a substrate and at least one junction configured to provide an active region within the substrate. Additionally, the device can comprise a metal-mesh semiconductor electrical contact structure attached to a surface of the substrate. The metal-mesh semiconductor electrical contact structure can further comprise a mesh line width, a mesh opening size, and a mesh thickness.
Claims20
An optoelectric device, comprising:
- a substrate;
- at least one junction configured to provide an active region within the substrate;
- and
- a metal-mesh semiconductor electrical contact structure attached to a surface of the substrate, wherein the metal-mesh semiconductor electrical contact structure comprises a plurality of mesh lines that define a grid of uniformly distributed mesh openings across the surface of the substrate,
- wherein the mesh openings comprise a mesh opening size,
- wherein the metal-mesh semiconductor electrical contact structure comprises a mesh thickness, and
- wherein the plurality of mesh lines comprises a first plurality of mesh lines that define rows and columns of the grid of uniformly distributed mesh openings having a first mesh line width and a second one or more thicker metal mesh lines having a second mesh line width thicker than the first mesh line width, the second one or more thicker metal mesh lines extending from a wire bonding pad.
4 more elements
A light-emitting diode, comprising:
- at least one substrate comprising a semiconducting material that emits light in a mid-infrared portion of the electromagnetic spectrum;
- a plurality of cascaded LED emission junctions;
- and
- a metal-mesh semiconductor electrical contact structure attached to a surface of the substrate, wherein the metal-mesh semiconductor electrical contact structure comprises a central-positioned wire bonding pad and a plurality of mesh lines that define a grid of uniformly distributed mesh openings across the surface of the substrate,
- wherein the mesh openings have mesh opening sizes based on a number of junctions from the plurality of cascaded LED emission junctions,
- wherein the metal-mesh semiconductor electrical contact structure comprises a plurality of uniform mesh thicknesses, and
- wherein the plurality of mesh lines comprises a first plurality of mesh lines that define rows and columns of the grid of uniformly distributed mesh openings having a first mesh line width and a second one or more thicker metal mesh lines having a second mesh line width thicker than the first mesh line width, the second one or more thicker metal mesh lines extending from the central-positioned wire bonding pad.
4 more elements
A method for manufacturing a metal-mesh semiconductor electrical contact structure for a light-emitting diode, the method comprising:
- determining an operating current of the light-emitting diode;
- determining a size of the light-emitting diode;
- calculating a mesh thickness for the metal-mesh semiconductor electrical contact structure such that a spreading length for a composite contact is greater than the size of the light-emitting diode;
- and
- creating the metal-mesh semiconductor electrical contact structure with the calculated mesh thickness, wherein the metal-mesh semiconductor electrical contact structure also comprises:
- a plurality of mesh lines that define a grid of uniformly distributed mesh openings across a surface of a substrate and a central-positioned wire bonding pad, and wherein the plurality of mesh lines comprises a first plurality of mesh lines that define rows and columns of the grid of uniformly distributed mesh openings having a first mesh line width and a second one or more thicker metal mesh lines having a second mesh line width thicker than the first mesh line width, the second one or more thicker metal mesh lines extending from the central-positioned wire bonding pad.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.