Leakage current and reverse-bias luminescence in InGaN-based light-emitting diodes

This paper reports an electro-optical analysis of the correlation between reverse-bias leakage current and luminescence in light-emitting diodes based on InGaN. The results of the analysis suggest that i the main mechanism responsible for leakage current conduction is tunneling, ii leakage current is correlated with the presence of reverse-bias luminescence, iii leakage current flows through preferential paths, that can be identified by means of emission microscopy, and iv reverse-bias luminescence could be ascribed to the recombination of electron-hole pairs in the quantum well region.