Arthur Xiao wins SID Detroit Metro Chapter Academic Award for work on red micro-LEDs

Yixin “Arthur” Xiao, PhD student in Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) is a 2024 recipient of the Society for Information Displays (SID) Detroit Metro Chapter Academic Award, which recognizes graduate students working on advanced display technology.

For the past five years, Xiao has been working with advisor Prof. Zetian Mi to develop the world’s smallest red-emitting III-nitride LEDs, suitable for virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) applications. III-nitride LEDs smaller than a micrometer, known as micro-LEDs, enhance the resolution of electronic displays––often at the expense of efficiency, due to damage incurred during the fabrication process.

Previous work in Mi’s research group increased the stability of red micro-LEDs by adding indium gallium nitride (InGaN) to the devices, but the high concentration of indium can lead to material instability. Therefore, red micro-LEDs remain more difficult to produce and demonstrate than blue and green micro-LEDs.

Xiao has continued this work, using an innovative new method to stabilize the material and further increase efficiency of red micro-LEDs for practical use. Using bottom-up selective area epitaxy, Xiao fabricates micro-LED devices without exposing them to damaging plasma. This method also allows him to manage the stress on the material, stabilizing it even in the presence of the indium.

“Material stress management is crucial for achieving the levels of efficiency and indium incorporation thus far out of reach for conventional top-down III-nitride micro-LEDs,” said Xiao. “This development is a game changer: it enables the achievement of high efficiency (sub)micrometer scale LEDs that were not previously possible.”

Xiao, Mi, and colleagues were able to demonstrate a green micro-LED more efficient than the OLEDs used for cell phone screens, as well as a red micro-LED an order of magnitude more efficient than existing red LEDs of a similar size.

However, the team didn’t stop there––having engineered a more efficient red micro-LED, Xiao focused on the color quality. At high electric currents, InGaN red micro-LEDs tend to show blueshifting, meaning that the wavelength of light shifts toward a higher-frequency, blue color.