A light emitting diode is disclosed that includes a transparent substrate with an absorption coefficient less than 4 per centimeter, epitaxial layers having absorption coefficients of less than 500 per centimeter in the layers other than the active emission layers, an ohmic contact and metallization layer on at least one of the epitaxial layers, with the ohmic contact and metallization layer having a transmission of at least about 80 percent, and bond pads with reflectivity greater than at least about 70 percent.