Current spreading and thermal effects in blue LED dice

We have applied simulations to study current the spreading and heat transfer in blue III-nitride light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with the focus on self-heating and its effect on the device characteristics. A conventional planar design of an LED die is considered for the heat sink through a sapphire substrate. The computations predict a great current crowding at the contact electrode edges, resulting in a non-uniform temperature distribution over the die. The thermal effect on the current-voltage characteristic, output optical power, and series resistance of the diode is analyzed and the theoretical predictions are compared with available observations. (c) 2007 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.