Substrate-fluorescent LED

• US 6,509,651 B1
• Filed: 07/12/1999
• Issued: 01/21/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 07/28/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sumitomo Electric Industries Limited (Sumitomo Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sumitomo Electric Industries Limited (Sumitomo Corporation)
• Inventors: Takebe, Toshihiko, Matsubara, Hideki, Motoki, Kensaku
• Primary Examiner(s): Flynn, Nathan J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Erdem, Fazli
• Application Number:
  US09/351,323
• Time in Patent Office: 1,289 Days
• Field of Search: 313/498, 313/499, 313/500, 313/501, 313/502, 313/503, 313/504, 313/512, 428/700, 428/690, 428/917, 257/103, 257/89, 257/463, 257/461, 257/607, 257/102, 257/200, 257/88
• US Class Current: 257/461
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2224/48091 Arched
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2224/48247 connecting the wire to a bond pad of the item
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2224/48257 connecting the wire to a die pad of the item
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/00014 the subject-matter covered by the group, the symbol of which is combined with the symbol of this group, being disclosed without further technical details
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 33/08 with a plurality of light emitting regions, e.g. laterally discontinuous light emitting layer or photoluminescent region integrated within the semiconductor body H01L27/15 takes precedence

Abstract

A substrate-fluorescent LED having a fluorescent-impurity doped substrate and an epitaxial emission structure including an active layer and being made on the substrate. The epitaxial emission structure emits blue or green light corresponding to the band gap of the active layer. The substrate absorbs a part of the blue or green light and makes fluorescence of a longer wavelength. Neutral color light or white light is emitted from the LED. The fluorescent substrate is n-AlGaAs(Si dope), GaP(Zn+O dope), ZnSe(Cu+I, Ag+I, Al+I dope), GaN(O.C.Va(N) dope) or so.

Claims

1. A substrate-fluorescent LED comprising:

a semiconductor or insulator substrate doped with dopants absorbing light and producing fluorescence as fluorescence centers; and

an epitaxial emission structure including an active layer emitting light by electron band gap transition induced by current injection;

wherein white color or neutral colors of purple, redpurple, pink, yellow or orange are synthesized by mixing the light from the active layer with the fluorescence from the substrate.

2. An LED as claimed in claim 1, wherein a peak wavelength of the fluorescence is changed by varying a material of the substrate.

3. An LED as claimed in claim 1, wherein a peak wavelength of the fluorescence is changed by varying a kind of the dopant in the substrate.

4. An LED as claimed in claim 1, wherein intensity of the fluorescence is changed by varying a thickness of the substrate.

5. An LED as claimed in claim 4, wherein the thickness of the substrate is 50 μ

m to 2 mm.

6. An LED as claimed in claim 1, wherein intensity of the fluorescence is changed by varying a concentration of the dopant.

7. An LED as claimed in claim 1, wherein a peak wavelength of the light from the active layer is changed by varying a king of the active layer.

8. An LED as claimed in claim 1, wherein the substrate is an n-type AlGaAs substrate and the active layer is a ZnSe layer, a ZnSSe/ZnCdSe layer or a ZnSeTe layer.

9. An LED as claimed in claim 8, wherein the AlGaAs substrate is formed upon an n-type GaAs single crystal.

10. An LED as claimed in claim 8, wherein the dopant doped into the AlGaAs substrate is Si.

11. An LED as claimed in claim 1, wherein the substrate is a GaP substrate and the active layer is a GaInN layer.

12. An LED as claimed in claim 11, wherein the dopant doped into the GaP substrate is Zn and O.

13. An LED as claimed in claim 1, wherein the substrate is an n-type ZnSe substrate doped with at least two dopants and the active layer is a ZnSe layer, a ZnSe/ZnCdSe layer or a ZnSeTe layer.

14. An LED as claimed in claim 13, wherein the dopants doped into the substrate are Al and I.

15. An LED as claimed in claim 13, wherein the dopants doped into the substrate are Cu and I.

16. An LED as claimed in claim 13, wherein the dopants doped into the substrate are Ag and I.

17. An LED as claimed in claim 1, wherein the substrate is an n-type or a p-type GaN substrate doped with O, C or N-vacancy without a sapphire base and the active layer is a GaInN layer.

18. An LED as claimed in claim 17, wherein the light from the active layer has a wavelength from 400 nm to 510 nm, the fluorescence from the substrate has a wavelength from 520 nm to 650 nm and white color light is synthesized by the light from the active layer and the fluorescence from the substrate.

19. An LED as claimed in claim 18, wherein the active layer is denoted as Ga₁₋

xIN_xN with a ratio x and tone of the white color is changed by varying the ratio x.

20. An LED as claimed in claim 18, wherein tone of the white color is changed by varying the thickness of the substrate from 50 μ

m to 2 mm.