Multicolor single InGaN/GaN dot-in-nanowire light emitting diodes (LEDs) were fabricated on the same substrate using selective area epitaxy. It is observed that the structural and optical properties of InGaN/GaN quantum dots depend critically on nanowire diameters. Photoluminescence emission of single InGaN/GaN dot-in-nanowire structures exhibits a consistent blueshift with increasing nanowire diameter. This is explained by the significantly enhanced indium (In) incorporation for nanowires with small diameters, due to the more dominant contribution for In incorporation from the lateral diffusion of In adatoms. Single InGaN/GaN nanowire LEDs with emission wavelengths across nearly the entire visible spectral were demonstrated on a single chip by varying the nanowire diameters. Such nanowire LEDs also exhibit superior electrical performance, with a turn-on voltage ∼2 V and negligible leakage current under reverse bias. The monolithic integration of full-color LEDs on a single chip, coupled with the capacity to tune light emission characteristics at the single nanowire level, provides an unprecedented approach to realize ultrasmall and efficient projection display, smart lighting, and on-chip spectrometer.

To date, semiconductor light emitting diodes (LEDs) operating in the deep ultraviolet (UV) spectral range exhibit very low efficiency due to the presence of large densities of defects and extremely inefficient p-type conduction of conventional AlGaN quantum well heterostructures. We have demonstrated that such critical issues can be potentially addressed by using nearly defect-free AlGaN tunnel junction core-shell nanowire heterostructures. The core-shell nanowire arrays exhibit high photoluminescence efficiency (∼80%) in the UV-C band at room temperature. With the incorporation of an epitaxial Al tunnel junction, the p-(Al)GaN contact-free nanowire deep UV LEDs showed nearly one order of magnitude reduction in the device resistance, compared to the conventional nanowire p-i-n device. The unpackaged Al tunnel junction deep UV LEDs exhibit an output power >8 mW and a peak external quantum efficiency ∼0.4%, which are nearly one to two orders of magnitude higher than previously reported AlGaN nanowire devices. Detailed studies further suggest that the maximum achievable efficiency is limited by electron overflow and poor light extraction efficiency due to the TM polarized emission.

We report the controlled synthesis of InGaN/GaN multiple quantum well (MQW) uniaxial (c-plane) and coaxial (m-plane) nanowire (NW) heterostructures by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. Two kinds of heterostructure NW light-emitting diodes (LEDs) have been fabricated: (1) 10 pairs of InGaN/GaN MQW layers in the c-plane on the top of n-GaN NWs where Mg-doped p-GaN NW is axially grown (2) p-GaN/10 pairs of InGaN/GaN shell structure were surrounded by n-GaN core. Here, we discuss a comparative analysis based on the m-plane and the c-plane oriented InGaN/GaN MQW NW arrays. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy studies revealed that the barrier and the well structures of MQW were observed to be substantially clear with regular intervals while the interface regions were extremely sharp. The c-plane and m-plane oriented MQW single NW was utilized for the parallel assembly fabrication of the LEDs via a focused ion beam. The polarization induced effects on the c-plane and m-plane oriented MQW NWs were precisely compared via power dependence electroluminescence. The electrical properties of m-plane NWs exhibited superior characteristics than that of c-plane NWs owing to the absence of piezoelectric polarization fields. According to this study, high-quality m-plane coaxial NWs can be utilized for the realization of high-brightness LEDs.

We report the growth of high-quality nonpolar (m-plane) and semipolar (r-plane) multiple quantum well (MQW) nanowires (NWs) for high internal quantum efficiency light emitting diodes (LEDs) without polarization. Highly aligned and uniform In(x)Ga(1-x)N/GaN MQW layers are grown coaxially on the {1-100} sidewalls of hexagonal c-axis n-GaN NWs on Si(111) substrates by a pulsed flow metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) technique. The photoluminescence (PL) measurements reveal that the wavelength and intensity of an MQW structure with various pairs (2-20) are very stable and possess composition-dependent emission ranging from 369 to 600 nm. The cathodoluminescence (CL) spectrum of individual In(x)Ga(1-x)N/GaN MQW NW is dominated by band-edge emission at 369 and 440 nm with a relatively homogeneous profile of parallel alignment. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) studies of coaxial InxGa1-xN/GaN MQW NWs measured along the [0001] and [2-1-10] zone axes reveal that the grown NWs are uniform with six nonpolar m-plane facets without any dislocations and stacking faults. The p-GaN/In(x)Ga(1-x)N/GaN MQW/n-GaN NW coaxial LEDs show a current rectification with a sharp onset voltage at 2.65 V in the forward bias. The linear enhancement of power output could be attributed to the elimination of piezoelectric fields in the In(x)Ga(1-x)N/GaN MQW active region. The superior performance of coaxial NW LEDs is observed in comparison with that of thin film LEDs. Overall, the feasibility of obtaining low defect and strain free m-plane coaxial NWs using pulsed MOCVD can be utilized for the realization of high-power LEDs without an efficiency droop. These kinds of coaxial NWs are viable high surface area MQW structures which can be used to enhance the efficiency of LEDs.

Ultrasmall semiconductor lasers can improve the efficiency and resolution of next-generation displays by 10 to 100 times.