Comparison of the properties of AlGaInN light-emitting diode chips of vertical and flip-chip design using silicon as the a submount

Vertical and flip-chip light-emitting diode (LED) chips are compared from the viewpoint of the behavior of current spreading in the active region and the distribution of local temperatures and thermal resistances of chips. AlGaInN LED chips of vertical design are fabricated using Si as a submount and LED flipchips were fabricated with the removal of a sapphire substrate. The latter are also mounted on a Si submount. The active regions of both chips are identical and are about 1 mm$^2$ in size. It is shown that both the emittance of the crystal surface in the visible range and the distribution of local temperatures estimated from radiation in the infrared region are more uniform in crystals of vertical design. Heat removal from flip-chips is insufficient in regions of the $n$ contact, which do not possess good thermal contact with the submount. As a result, the total thermal resistances between the $p$–$n$ junction and the submount both for the vertical chips and for flip-chips are approximately 1 K/W. The total area of the flip-chips exceeds that of the vertical design chips by a factor of 1.4.