A plurality of individual contact areas are distributed over a surface of a semiconductor light conversion element such as a light-emitting diode. A layer of transparent electrically conductive material such as tin oxide is deposited over the surface and in contact with the contact areas, and a conductor member is connected to the transparent layer.
A semiconductor device comprises a semiconductor substrate and at least one supporting electrode soldered to one surface of the semiconductor substrate. The supporting electrode is constituted by a composite body having fibers embedded in a matrix of an electrically conductive metal. The coefficient of the thermal expansion of the fibers is substantially equal to or smaller than that of the semiconductor substrate. The fiber is arrayed in an annular, circular, spiral or the like pattern at least in the surface portion of the composite body on which the composite body is bonded to the substrate.
A high brightness light emitting diode having a distributed contact area comprising a first electrode; a semiconductor substrate formed on the first electrode; a first cladding layer of a first conductivity type formed on the semiconductor substrate; an active layer formed on the first cladding layer; a second cladding layer of a second conductivity type formed on the active layer; a window layer of a second conductivity type formed on the second cladding layer; a distributed contact area in a predetermined pattern formed on the window layer; a transparent conductive layer formed over the distributed contact area and the window layer, the transparent conductive layer being in ohmic contact with the distributed contact area and a Shottky barrier being formed between the transparent conductive layer and the window layer; and a second electrode formed on the transparent conductive layer.
A metallization scheme for providing an ohmic contact to n-type III-V semiconductors is described. A metallurgical combination including germanium and palladium is formed on the semiconductor surface either in the form of an alloy or discrete layers. The structure is then heated so that the metallic and semiconductor components interdiffuse to establish the ohmic contact without melting of the metal. One advantage of such a solid state process is the high degree of dimensional control of the contact which is attainable.
A method of bonding microelectronic components (10, 23, 24) is disclosed. A light emitting diode (10) is bonded to a conductive lead (24) and/or a portion of a lead frame (23) using an adhesive having no metallic particles therein. The diode (10) is clamped to the conductive lead (24) and/or the lead frame (23) as the epoxy is cured. Such bonds have been found to exhibit low contact resistance in addition to long life and reliability.
An efficient light emitting diode is disclosed wherein the spatial distribution of emitted radiation is highly uniform. In accordance with the present invention, a transparent electrode is used to couple current to the light emitting diode junction in a manner that minimizes the resistance at the interface between the transparent electrode and semiconductor diode material. Specifically, it has been found that the interface resistance is significantly reduced, and device efficiency thus increased, by forming a thin metal-based layer at such interface and/or by annealing the transparent electrode after formation on the device.
