Trace metal recombination centers kill LED efficiency

Using cutting-edge first-principles calculations, researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) have demonstrated the mechanism by which transition metal impurities - iron in particular - can act as nonradiative recombination centers in nitride semiconductors. The work highlights that such impurities can have a detrimental impact on the efficiency of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) based on gallium nitride or indium gallium nitride. For LEDs, high-purity material is essential to lighting technology, such as residential and commercial solid-state lighting, adaptive lighting for automobiles, and displays for mobile devices. Imperfections at the atomic scale can limit the performance of LEDs through a process known as Shockley-Read-Hall recombination.