Elucidating the Physical Property of the InGaN Nanorod Light-Emitting Diode: Large Tunneling Effect

Abstract

The current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of the InGaN nanorod light-emitting diode (LED) are evaluated using nanoprobes installed on a field-emission scanning electron microscope. The saturated current of the InGaN nanorod LED (I(O) = 2 x 10(-9) A) is found to be orders of magnitude higher than those obtained by downscaling a conventional InGaN LED to a chip size of 300 x 300 mu m(2) (I(O1) = 1 x 10(-25) A; I(O2) = 1 x 10(-14) A). This observation is explained by the fact that the nanorod LED is associated with enhanced tunneling of injected carriers and, therefore, reduction of the defect-assisted leakage current and the diffusion-recombination process that normally occurs in InGaN LEDs.