Efficiency- and lifetime-limiting effects of commercially available UVC LEDs: a review
G. Onushkin1,7, J. Ruschel2,7, F. Piva3,7, M. Buffolo3,6, J. Rass2, L. Davis4, N. Trivellin3, C. De Santi3, W. van Driel1,5 and M. Meneghini3,6
Published in:
J. Phys. Photonics, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 032002, doi:10.1088/2515-7647/adebcb (2025).
Abstract:
This review is aimed at providing an overview of the technologies of currently-available UVC LEDs, on the challenges that these devices have to face, and on the peculiar features that these modern solid-state emitters exhibit. In particular, this paper is aimed at serving as a bridge between device developers and system manufacturers, by increasing awareness of the differences, both in terms of reliability and operation, that AlGaN-based UVC LEDs show with respect to their visible InGaN/GaN-based counterparts. In this view, this work reports performance and lifetime figures of both commercially-available and research-grade LEDs, showing their limitations in terms of temperature- and current-dependency of the emission spectrum. Both catastrophic and gradual processes that lead to device degradation are discussed, with a particular focus on the kinetics that device properties exhibit during prolonged operation. Moreover, also package-related degradation processes are investigated, which stand-out due to the peculiar structures and materials required to sustain both high-energy UV photons and high localized self-heating, while maximizing the optical efficiency of the LEDs. Ultimately, the data reported within this paper should help the final user in predicting and mitigating degradation effects, while also serving as a reference to manufacturers for the improvement of next generation devices.
1 Signify, High Tech Campus 48, 5656 AE Eindhoven, The Netherlands
2 Ferdinand-Braun-Institut (FBH), Gustav-Kirchhoff-Str. 4, 12489 Berlin, Germany
3 Department of Information Engineering, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
4 RTI International, Durham, NC, United States of America
5 Delft University of Technology, 2600 AA Delft, The Netherlands
6 Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
7 These authors contributed equally to this work
Keywords:
degradation, UVC, performance, reliability, LED, AlGaN
© 2025 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd
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