A light emitting diode (LED) formed by depositing an LED chip and coupling a stability layer to the LED chip. Semiconductor nanocrystals are placed in a first matrix material to form a nanocrystal complex layer. The nanocrystal complex layer is deposited on top of the stability layer. A thickness of the stability layer is chosen to maximizes a power of a light output by the nanocrystal complex layer. The matrix material and the stability layer can be of the same type of material. Additional layers of matrix material can be deposited on top of the nanocrystal complex layer. These additional layers can comprise matrix material only or can comprise matrix material and semiconductor nanocrystals to form another nanocrystal complex layer.