Planar dielectric microcavity light-emitting diodes: Analytical analysis of the extraction efficiency.

This article presents a simple analytical expression for the extraction efficiency of planar dielectric microcavity light-emitting diodes (MCLEDs) based on two distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs). The calculations take into account the optical properties of the resonator (reflectivities and index contrast of the DBRs, cavity length, refractive index of the outside medium), as well as the spectral properties of the active material. The impact of these factors on the extraction efficiency is investigated and compared to the results of exact numerical calculations. Simple design rules for optimizing the extraction efficiency of MCLEDs are derived and discussed for display and fiber coupling applications. © 2001 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]