Resonant-cavity-enhanced thin-film AlGaAs/GaAs/AlGaAs LED's with metal mirrors.

Resonant-cavity-enhanced light-emitting diodes (RCE LED's) are of increasing interest as a low-cost alternative to lasers for short-distance applications. We report on the characteristics of thin-film AlGaAs/GaAs/AlGaAs double-heterostructure RCE LED's with metal mirrors on both sides fabricated by means of epitaxial liftoff and bonded to silicon host substrates. The devices exhibit typical turn-on voltages of 1.3 V, operating resistances of 31 Ω, linewidths of 10.4 nm, efficiencies of 1.4%, dispersion half-angles of 23.7°, and stable output over more than 1700 h. These devices exhibit significant improvement over conventional LED's without additional complicated processing or growth steps, resulting in a manufacturable, low-cost device.