Design and fabrication of AlGaInP LED array with integrated GaAs decode circuits

A two-dimensional (2-D) AlGaInP light-emitting diode (LED) array with monolithic integration of one-to-four GaAs MESFET decode circuits has been developed as an image source for portable virtual displays. The epitaxial layers of AlGaInP LEDs with light emission at a wavelength of 605 nm were grown on a semi-insulating GaAs substrate by organometallic vapor phase epitaxy. LED arrays consisting of 240 columns and 144 rows for a total of 34560 pixels were then fabricated on such epitaxial wafers. One-to-four GaAs MESFET decode circuits consisting of eight MESFET´s for each decode circuit and a total of 768 MESFET´s for a 34 K decode array were fabricated on the semi-insulating GaAs substrate with removal of LED epitaxial layers around the periphery of the LED array. LED arrays with the integrated decode circuits provide a great reduction in I/O terminals. The I/O count of the demonstrated 34 K decode LED array is 104, which is much less than 384 for a comparable array without the integrated decode circuits. The pixel pitch of the LED array is 20 μm and each LED pixel has 10×10 μm² emitting area. The output power of LED pixel is 50 nW at an operation current of 50 μA. The address voltages used to activate the column decode circuits are 3 V for high and -3 V for low, while the address voltages used to activate the row decode circuits are 0 V for high and -3 V for low. The operating voltage of the decode LED array ranges from 3 to 5 V, and the total power dissipation of the decode LED array is less than 16 mW