Negative-Voltage Electrostatic Discharge Characteristics of Blue Light-Emitting Diodes Using an Extended n-Electrode onto Plasma Treated p-GaN

We developed light-emitting diodes (LEDs) having a shunt diode in order to improve their negative-voltage electrostatic discharge (ESD) characteristics. To make the discharge path, the n-electrode of the LED was extended over a p-GaN surface. The leakage current at reverse bias owing to the shunt diode can be significantly reduced via plasma treatment on the p-GaN surface prior to the extended n-electrode. In this design, the finger type extended n-electrode was implemented to minimize the light absorption by the n-electrode. The negative-voltage ESD threshold of the LED with the shunt diode significantly increased from 300–500 to 3000 V.