Temperature-dependent current spreading in micro-LEDs: a sidewall leakage-governed model

Abstract The dependence of current spreading length on temperature in AlGaInP-based red micrometer-scale light-emitting diodes (micro-LEDs) has been demonstrated for the first time and investigated through establishing a sidewall leakage-governed model. The current spreading length initially contracts exponentially with temperature (less than 280 K), then expands near-linearly with further increasing temperature. This behavior quantitatively correlates with sidewall leakage current. When the injection current is 7.6 A·cm −2 , the enlargement of the current spreading length enhances the injection of carriers into the sidewall region. Our findings establish that current spreading in micro-LEDs is affected by sidewall leakage, necessitating revised device physical models that explicitly account for this mechanism.