Design of near-unity transmittance dielectric/Ag/ITO electrodes for GaN-based light-emitting diodes

Han Kyeol Lee, Jin Young Na, Yoon Jong Moon, Tae Yeon Seong, Sun Kyung Kim

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

19 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We designed a near-unity transmittance dielectric/Ag/ITO electrode for high-efficiency GaN-based light-emitting diodes by using the scattering matrix method. The transmittance of an ultrathin metal layer, sandwiched between a dielectric layer and an ITO layer, was investigated as a function of the thickness and the optical constant of each constituent layer. Three different metals (Ag, Au, and Al) were examined as the metal layer. The analytical simulation indicated that the transmittance of a dielectric/metal/ITO multilayer film is maximized with an approximately 10-nm-thick Ag layer. Additionally, the transmittance also tends to increase as the refractive index of the upper dielectric layer increases. By tailoring the thickness of the dielectric layer and the ITO layer, the dielectric/Ag/ITO structure yielded a transmittance of 0.97, which surpasses the maximum transmittance (0.91) of a single ITO film. Furthermore, this extraordinary transmittance was present for other visible wavelengths of light, including violet and green colors. A complex phasor diagram model confirmed that the transmittance of the dielectric/metal/ITO multilayer film is influenced by the interference of reflected partial waves. These numerical findings underpin a rational design principle for metal-based multilayer films that are utilized as transparent electrodes for the development of efficient light-emitting diodes and solar cell devices.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)833-838
Number of pages6
JournalCurrent Applied Physics
Volume15
Issue number7
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2015 Mar 7

Keywords

  • Interference coatings
  • Metal optics
  • Thin films
  • Transparent conducting electrode

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Materials Science(all)
  • Physics and Astronomy(all)

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