Degradation physics of II-VI blue-green laser diodes and LEDs

A unified theoretical model for the degradation of II-VI blue-green laser diodes and light-emitting diodes (LEDs) is presented. The model is based on the recombination-enhanced defect generation. Based on this model and the corresponding rate equations for the laser diodes and LEDs, we show a general picture to explain the aging behaviors of both the optical output power of the LEDs under a constant current aging condition and the increase of the operation current of laser diodes under constant optical power operation. We found a universal curve for the optical output decay of the II-VI LEDs as a function of the aging time. The power decay is associated with the increase of defect density caused by electron-hole recombination enhancement. Our model also explains very well the increase of the operation current of laser diodes under the constant optical output aging condition.

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