A vertical porous InP structure with an aspect ratio larger than 100 was obtained by electrochemical anodization of a <111>A-oriented n-InP substrate with HCl etchant. The photoluminescence spectrum of this porous InP showed less surface recombination as well as a slight blue shift attributed to the quantum-size effect. By initiating the etching through SiO2-defined mask windows, which were prepared by electron-beam direct writing along 3 crystalline directions, a uniformly sized (around 72% within the permissible fluctuation error of about 4 nm against 100-nm-sized triangles), high-density (around 50%) structure was fabricated for the first time. These results reveal that this process is very attractive for the fabrication of high-density and low-size-fluctuation quantum-wire and -box structures.

Ga(1-x)In(x)N(y)As(1-y) is a promising material system for the fabrication of inexpensive "last-mile" optoelectronic components. However, details of its atomic arrangement and the relationship to observed optical properties is not fully known. Particularly, a blueshift of emission wavelength is observed after annealing. In this work, we use x-ray absorption fine structure to study the chemical environment around N atoms in the material before and after annealing. We find that as-grown molecular beam epitaxy material consists of a nearly random distribution of atoms, while postannealed material shows segregation of In toward N. Ab initio simulations show that this short-range ordering creates a more thermodynamically stable alloy and is responsible for blueshifting the emission.

We have integrated the surface photonic crystal (PhC) on GaN-based blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs) for the first time in order to enhance the extraction efficiency of the LEDs. With the finite-difference time-domain method, we have calculated 3.6-fold enhancement in light output. The theoretical calculations have revealed that the optimum pitch of the PhC is much longer than the emission wavelength when the distance between the PhC and the active layer of LEDs is short. This design enables PhC formation on chemically stable GaN surfaces. In addition, an indium tin oxide (ITO)-based transparent electrode is formed directly on the surface of PhC to realize light emission from the whole area of the LED. The fabricated PhCs have increased the light output of blue LEDs by 1.5 times compared with the LEDs without PhC. We have demonstrated that PhC will realize highly efficient solid-state lighting with GaN-based LEDs.

We measured, for the first time, the anisotropic refractive index of porous InP obtained by photoassisted anodization of the (111)A surface in the direction parallel (n o=2.82) and perpendicular (n e=2.66) to the axis of the pores. The refractive index in the two directions was found to be 10–20% lower than the refractive index of bulk InP (n=3.17).

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