Ultraviolet micro light-emitting diode and color-conversion for white-light communication

Abstract

Visible-light communication (VLC) has several advantages over the commonly used radio frequency (RF) spectrum, including high bandwidth and low crosstalk. These features have become of more significance, especially as the proliferation of wireless devices increases and causes spectrum crowding. The white light in VLC systems is typically obtained from blue/violet light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and phosphors partially converting blue light into longer wavelength colors spanning the visible-light band. One phosphor that is frequently used is cerium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG). However, YAG suffers from a low color-rendering index (CRI) and high correlated color temperature (CCT). Lead halide perovskites provide an alternative to YAG and have been extensively utilized for optoelectronic devices owing to their tunable bandgap and high photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY). However, their drawbacks, e.g., lead toxicity and instability, hinder their widespread application. Herein, in order to take advantage of a high-performance lead-free tin-based halide perovskite phosphor that has a high absolute PLQY of near unity and a wide spectral emission ranging from 500 to 700 nm, we fabricated ultraviolet (UV) micro light-emitting diodes (micro-LEDs) with a peak wavelength at 365 nm to match the peak of the photoluminescence excitation (PLE) spectra of the material to obtain strong yellow-spectrum emission. Together with a blue LED, white light was obtained with a CRI of 84.9 and 4115-K CCT. Despite the long PL lifetime of the perovskite material, which is in the order of μs, a net data rate of 1.5 Mb/s was achieved using orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) with adaptive bit and power loading to take advantage of the exceptionally high PLQY of the phosphor to improve the data throughput of the VLC system using higher modulation orders. Furthermore, through improvements to the nanostructure of lead-free tin-based halide perovskite phosphor and the use of excitation sources with a higher power, the data rate is expected to be even higher. The lead-free nature of this material, along with its wide spectrum and high conversion efficiency, makes it a promising alternative to conventional toxic perovskite-based phosphors. As the first demonstration of VLC links using lead-free perovskite, this study paves the way for safer, more sustainable VLC systems.