Effect of inductively coupled plasma damage on performance of GaN–InGaN multiquantum-well light-emitting diodes

InGaN multiquantum-well light-emitting diodes (LEDs) in the form of unpackaged die with emission wavelengths from $420\text{to}505\mathrm{nm}$ were exposed to either Ar or ${\mathrm{H}}_2$ inductively coupled plasmas as a function of both rf chuck power (controlling incident ion energy) and source power (controlling ion flux). The forward turn-on voltage is increased by both types of plasma exposure and is a function of both the incident ion energy and flux. The reverse bias current in the LEDs is much larger in the case of ${\mathrm{H}}_2$ plasma exposure, indicating that preferential loss of nitrogen leads to increased surface leakage. The current transport in the LEDs is dominated by generation-recombination (ideality factor $\sim 2$ ) both before and after the plasma exposures.