High Bandwidth GaN-Based Micro-LEDs for Multi-Gb/s Visible Light Communications

Gallium-nitride (GaN)-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are highly efficient sources for general purpose illumination. Visible light communications (VLC) uses these sources to supplement existing wireless communications by offering a large, licence-free region of optical spectrum. Here, we report on progress in the development of micro-scale GaN LEDs (micro-LEDs), optimized for VLC. These blue-emitting micro-LEDs are shown to have very high electrical-to-optical modulation bandwidths, exceeding 800 MHz. The data transmission capabilities of the micro-LEDs are illustrated by demonstrations using ON-OFF-keying, pulse-amplitude modulation, and orthogonal frequency division multiplexing modulation schemes to transmit data over free space at the rates of 1.7, 3.4, and 5 Gb/s, respectively.

[1]  John A Rogers,et al.  High-efficiency, microscale GaN light-emitting diodes and their thermal properties on unusual substrates. , 2012, Small.

[2]  Richard V. Penty,et al.  μLED-Based Single-Wavelength Bi-directional POF Link With 10 Gb/s Aggregate Data Rate , 2015, Journal of Lightwave Technology.

[3]  H. Haas,et al.  A 3-Gb/s Single-LED OFDM-Based Wireless VLC Link Using a Gallium Nitride $\mu{\rm LED}$ , 2014, IEEE Photonics Technology Letters.

[4]  D. O'Brien,et al.  A Gigabit/s Indoor Wireless Transmission Using MIMO-OFDM Visible-Light Communications , 2013, IEEE Photonics Technology Letters.

[5]  G. Cossu,et al.  1-Gb/s Transmission Over a Phosphorescent White LED by Using Rate-Adaptive Discrete Multitone Modulation , 2012, IEEE Photonics Journal.

[6]  Yoon-Kyu Song,et al.  Application of blue–green and ultraviolet micro-LEDs to biological imaging and detection , 2008 .

[7]  Meng-Chyi Wu,et al.  High-Speed GaN-Based Blue Light-Emitting Diodes With Gallium-Doped ZnO Current Spreading Layer , 2013, IEEE Electron Device Letters.

[8]  Erdan Gu,et al.  Size-dependent light output, spectral shift, and self-heating of 400 nm InGaN light-emitting diodes , 2010 .

[9]  J.-W. Shi,et al.  The improvement in modulation speed of GaN-based Green light-emitting diode (LED) by use of n-type barrier doping for plastic optical fiber (POF) communication , 2006, IEEE Photonics Technology Letters.

[10]  M. Dawson,et al.  High-Speed Visible Light Communications Using Individual Pixels in a Micro Light-Emitting Diode Array , 2010, IEEE Photonics Technology Letters.

[11]  M. Dawson,et al.  Visible-Light Communications Using a CMOS-Controlled Micro-Light- Emitting-Diode Array , 2012, Journal of Lightwave Technology.

[12]  Erdan Gu,et al.  Modulation bandwidth studies of recombination processes in blue and green InGaN quantum well micro-light-emitting diodes , 2013 .

[13]  T. Blank,et al.  Mechanisms of current flow in metal-semiconductor ohmic contacts , 2007 .

[14]  R.W. Martin,et al.  Fabrication and performance of parallel-addressed InGaN micro-LED arrays , 2003, IEEE Photonics Technology Letters.

[15]  D. H. Mash,et al.  Light-emitting diodes , 1977, Nature.