Three-terminal light emitting device (led) with built-in electrostatic discharge (esd) protection device

A method for fabricating a three-terminal light emitting device (LED) chip, the method comprising:

• providing a substrate;
• forming an n-doped semiconductor layer overlying the substrate;
• forming an active semiconductor layer overlying the n-doped semiconductor layer;
• forming a p-doped semiconductor layer overlying the active semiconductor layer;
• forming a trench through the p-doped and active semiconductor layers, exposing the n-doped semiconductor layer;
• and,
• simultaneously forming an LED P electrode overlying a first region of the p-doped semiconductor layer, a diode P electrode overlying a second region of the p-doped semiconductor layer that is separated from the first region of the p-doped semiconductor layer by the trench, and an N electrode overlying a top surface of the exposed n-doped semiconductor layer in the trench.

A light emitting diode (LED) array with electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection, the LED array comprising:

• a first array terminal;
• a second array terminal;
• a plurality of two-terminal LED chips, where each two-terminal LED chip comprises an LED interposed between a P terminal and an N terminal;
• a plurality of three-terminal LED chips, where each three-terminal LED chip comprises an LED interposed between a first P terminal and an N terminal, and a diode interposed between a second P terminal and the N terminal;
• a first diode interposed between a P terminal and an N terminal;
• n rows of parallelly connected LED chips comprising:
• a first row including a plurality of two-terminal LED chips, at least one three-terminal LED chip, and the first diode, where the P terminals of the two-terminal LED chips, the first P terminal of the three-terminal LED chip, and the N terminal of the first diode are connected to the first array terminal;
• (n−2) sequential rows, each row including a plurality of two-terminal LED chips and at least one three-terminal LED chip, where the P terminals of the two-terminal LED chips and the first P terminal of three-terminal LED chip are connected to the N terminals of the LED chips in a preceding row, and where the N terminal of each LED chip is connected to the second P terminal of a three-terminal LED chip in the preceding row;
• and,
• an nth row including a plurality of two-terminal LED chips, where the P terminal of each two-terminal LED chip is connected to the N terminals of the LED chips in the (n−1)th row, and the N terminal of each two-terminal LED chip is connected to the second array terminal.