Highly efficient UV LEDs for disinfection

Treatment of water with ultraviolet (UV) light, which destroys target DNA of microorganisms, is the safest, most reliable, and sustainable way of freeing water from microbial contamination. This process is desired in place of chlorination and is widely used in the US for wastewater treatment. We propose the development of a highly efficient UV LED with emission at 265 nm, with EQE>30%, and WPE>15% for water disinfection and surface sterilization applications. By using single crystal AlN substrates and proper point defect management, we will increase the performance of UV LEDs over the current state-of-the-art. Growth on such low dislocation density substrates increases the crystal quality in the doped layers and active region of the LED which results in superior wall plug efficiency and avoids degradation and poor operating lifetime typically observed in UV LEDs grown on sapphire and other non-native substrates.