Kelvin probe force microscopy – An appropriate tool for the electrical characterisation of LED heterostructures

Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) are commercially important devices in opto-semiconductor industry. The light emitting properties of LEDs degrade with time of operation and may lead to device failure. Even though the stability and reliability of LEDs are important topics, they are not well researched with AFM to date. This work demonstrates that Kelvin Probe Force Microscopy (KPFM) is an appropriate method to identify specific sites of increased degradation in a semiconductor heterostructure. Furthermore, the study shows that KPFM provides the metrological basis for further investigations with respect to the progress of degradation and its physical background. In this study, KPFM has been used to measure the potential gradient over cross-sectioned LED heterostructure in operation at different states of degradation. The results show significant differences between new and aged LEDs, markedly at specific layers of the LED heterostructure.