We report the growth of InGaN/GaN multiple-quantum-well blue light-emitting diode (LED) structures on Si(111) using metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy. By using growth conditions optimized for sapphire substrates, a full width at half maximum (FWHM) (102) x-ray rocking curve of less than 600 arcsec and a room-temperature photoluminescence peak at 465 nm with a FWHM of 35 nm was obtained. Simple LEDs emitting bright electroluminescence between 450 and 480 nm with turn-on voltages at 5 V were demonstrated.

We report the observation of visible cathodoluminescence (CL) from AlN thin films grown on sapphire (0001) substrate by molecular beam epitaxy and doped by implantation with Eu3+ and Tb3+ ions. The strongest rare earth (RE) CL was observed from samples annealed at 1100 °C for 0.5 h in N2 ambient. The sharp characteristic emission lines corresponding to Eu3+ and Tb3+ intra-4fn shell transitions are resolved in the spectral range from 350 to 900 nm. The CL spectra were recorded over 1–16 keV electron energy in the temperature range of 8–330 K. The depth resolved CL spectral analysis gives the luminescence surface a dead layer thickness of ∼16 nm for implanted AlN samples. We observed several different recombination centers luminescing in the 286–480 nm spectral region due to the presence of structural defects and oxygen impurities. The time resolved spectra and the CL kinetics were studied. The decay times for 5D0→7F2 (Eu3+), 5D3→7F5 (Tb3+), and 5D4→7F6 (Tb3+) transitions at 300 K are ∼0.4, ∼0.9, and ∼0.4 ms, respectively. We also discuss possible excitation mechanisms of RE ions in AlN.

GaN thin films were grown by electron cyclotron resonance molecular beam epitaxy on Si(111) wafers. X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy revealed that the thin films were single crystals with a hexagonal symmetry and a clear textured structure. The average column size was determined to be close to 100 nm in diameter. Despite the large defect density, a strong room temperature photoluminescence signal with a full width at half maximum of 138 meV was observed from these samples. The surface exhibited random array of sharp tips at the microscopic level with about 5×109 tips/cm2 density. The field emission characteristics of the as-grown thin films were measured, and a threshold electric field as low as 30–40 V/μm and an emission current density of more than 100 mA/cm2 were obtained.

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