A simple current-blocking process was presented and proved to increase the luminous intensity of AlGaInP light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Deeper blocking depth would dramatically raise the luminous intensity of devices. If the chip size was small, however, deeper blocking depth would increase the junction temperature under a higher operation current. On the whole, with a current-blocking layer embedded in the current-spreading layer, the luminous intensity increased to 1.19 and 1.13 times at 20 mA for 9 mil (280 x 280 mum(2)) and 16 mil (406 x 406 mum(2)) devices respectively, compared with that of the conventional structures. In terms of energy-saving, LEDs with the current-blocking layer can save roughly 42% of energy consumption compared with that having a conventional structure. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.