InGaN-based flexible light emitting diodes

Novel layer release and transfer technology of single-crystalline GaN semiconductors is attractive for enabling many novel applications including flexible photonics and hybrid device integration. To date, light emitting diode (LED) research has been primarily focused on rigid devices due to the thick growth substrate. This prevented fundamental research in flexible inorganic LEDs, and limited the applications of LEDs in the solid state lighting (due to the substrate cost) and in biophotonics (i.e. optogenetics) (due to LED rigidness). In the literature, a number of methods to achieve layer transfer have been reported including the laser lift-off, chemical lift-off, and Smartcut. However, the release of films of LED layers (i.e. GaN semiconductors) has been challenging since their elastic moduli and chemical resistivity are much higher than most conventional semiconductors. In this talk, we are going to review the existing technologies and new mechanical release techniques (i.e. spalling) to overcome these problems.