15 000 HRS STABLE OPERATION OF RESONANT-CAVITY LIGHT-EMITTING-DIODES

The 300 K light-output power of resonant-cavity light-emitting diodes (RCLEDs) driven by a constant current has been measured for 15000 hrs. It has been found that, for planar devices, the light intensity is co nstant and no degradation is evident; in contrast, the light intensity of mesa-etched devices decreases within a few thousand hours. Light o utput measurements on 25 RCLEDs at an elevated temperature of 50 degre es C reveal a degradation rate of 0.88% per 1000 hours. An average lif etime greater than 1.1 x 10(5) hrs is extrapolated from the degradatio n rate. The results demonstrate that planar RCLEDs employing one silve r (Ag) and one distributed Bragg reflector have high reliability.