We have studied the effect of growth and design parameters on the performance of Si-doped GaN/AlN multiquantum-well ͑MQW͒ structures for intersubband optoelectronics in the near infrared. The samples under study display infrared absorption in the 1.3-1.9 m wavelength range, originating from the photoexcitation of electrons from the first to the second electronic level in the QWs. A commonly observed feature is the presence of multiple peaks in both intersubband absorption and interband emission spectra, which are attributed to monolayer thickness fluctuations in the quantum wells. These thickness fluctuations are induced by dislocations and eventually by cracks or metal accumulation during growth. The best optical performance is attained in samples synthesized with a moderate Ga excess during the growth of both the GaN QWs and the AlN barriers without growth interruptions. The optical properties are degraded at high growth temperatures ͑Ͼ720°C͒ due to the thermal activation of the AlN etching of GaN. From the point of view of strain, GaN/AlN MQWs evolve rapidly to an equilibrium average lattice parameter, which is independent of the substrate. As a result, we do not observe any significant effect of the underlayers on the optical performance of the MQW structure. The average lattice parameter is different from the expected value from elastic energy minimization, which points out the presence of periodic misfit dislocations in the structure. The structural quality of the samples is independent of Si doping up to 10 20 cm −3 . By contrast, the intersubband absorption spectrum broadens and blueshifts with doping as a result of electron-electron interactions. This behavior is independent of the Si doping location in the structure, either in the QWs or in the barriers. It is found that the magnitude of the intersubband absorption is not directly determined by the Si concentration in the wells. Instead, depending on the Al mole fraction of the cap layer, the internal electric field due to piezoelectric and spontaneous polarization can deplete or induce charge accumulation in the QWs. In fact, this polarization-induced doping can result in a significant and even dominant contribution to the infrared absorption in GaN/AlN MQW structures.

We report on the demonstration of MOVPE-grown single nanowire InGaN/GaN core-shell light emitting diodes (LEDs) with a transparent graphene contact for hole injection. The electrical homogeneity of the graphene-contacted LED has been assessed by electron beam induced current microscopy. By comparing graphene-contacted and metal-contacted nanowire LEDs, we show that the contact layout determines the electroluminescence spectrum. The electroluminescence changes color from green to blue with increasing injection current. High-resolution cathodoluminescence on cleaved nanowires allows the location with high precision of the origin of different emitted wavelengths and demonstrates that the blue peak originates from the emission of the radial quantum well on the m-planes, whereas the green peak arises from the In-rich region at the junction between the m-planes and the semipolar planes. The spectral behavior of the electroluminescence is understood by modeling the current distribution within the nanowire.

This paper reports on the growth, structural and optical properties of GaN free-stranding nanowires synthesized in catalyst-free mode on Si(111) substrate by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. Cylindrical nanowires with a hexagonal cross-section defined by {1010} planes and diameters down to 20 nm were observed. The nanowire length increases as a function of their diameter, following the Gibbs-Thomson expression. The growth rate in the lateral direction was studied using thin AlN marker layers showing that the lateral over axial growth rate ratio can be tuned from ∼1% to ∼10% by changing the III/V flux ratio, with the lateral growth remaining homogeneous along the NW axis. Nanowire ensembles showed a strong near band edge photoluminescence up to room temperature. Low-temperature micro-photoluminescence from a single wire is peaked at 3.478 eV with broadening of 6-10 meV. This emission is similar to the luminescence of nanowire ensembles, which demonstrates strain homogeneity from wire to wire. The optical properties along the wire axis probed by micro-cathodoluminescence were found to be uniform, with no evidence of a higher defect density in the bottom part of the nanowires next to the Si substrate.