Non-polar and semipolar nitride semiconductors

Abstract

Throughout the history of group-III-nitride materials and devices, scientific breakthroughs and technological advances have gonehand-in-hand. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the discovery of the nucleation of smooth (0001) GaN films on c-plane sapphire and the activation of p-dopants in GaN led very quickly to the realization of high-brightness blue and green LEDs, followed by the first demonstration of GaN-based violet laser diodes in the mid 1990s. Today, blue InGaN LEDs boast record external quantum efficiencies exceeding 80% and the emission wavelength of the InGaN-based laser diode has been pushed into the green spectral range. Although these tremenduous advances have already spurred multi-billion dollar industries, there are still a number of scientific questions and technological issues that are unanswered. One key challenge is related to the polar nature of the III-nitride wurtzite crystal. Until a decade ago all research activities had almost exclusively concentrated on (0001)-oriented polar GaN layers and heterostructures. Although the device characteristics seem excellent, the strong polarization fields at GaN heterointerfaces can lead to a significant deterioration of the device performance. Triggered by the first demonstration non-polar GaN quantum wells grown on LiAlO2 by Waltereit and colleagues in 2000, impressive advances in the area of non-polar and semipolar nitride semiconductors and devices have been achieved. Today, a large variety of heterostructures free of polarization fields and exhibiting exceptional electronic and optical properties have been demonstrated, and the fundamental understanding of polar, semipolar and non-polar nitrides has made significant leaps forward.The contributions in this Semiconductor Science and Technology special issue on non-polar and semipolar nitride semiconductors provide an impressive and up-to-date cross-section of all areas of research and device physics in this field. The articles cover a wide range of topics including growth and heteroepitaxy, bulk GaN substrates, theory and modelling, optical properties, laser diodes and LEDs as well as transport properties and electronics. Farrell et al review materials and growth issues for high-performance non- and semipolar light-emitting devices, and Scholz provides an overview of heteroepitaxial growth of semipolar GaN. Okada et al review growth mechanisms of non- and semipolar GaN layers on patterned sapphire substrates, and Vennéguès discusses defect reduction methods for heteroepitaxially grown non- and semipolar III-nitride films. Leung et al explain how kinetic Wulff plots can be used to design and control non-polar and semipolar GaN heteroepitaxy, and a contribution by Sawaki et al explores the impurity incorporation in (1-101) GaN grown on Si substrates. In the area of bulk crystal growth Kucharski et al review non- and semipolar GaN substrates by ammonothermal growth, and Chichibu et al discuss the challenges for epitaxial growth of InGaN on free-standing m-plane GaN substrates. Calculation of semipolar orientations for wurtzitic semiconductor heterostructures and their application to nitrides and oxides are reviewed by Bigenwald et al, and Ito et al present an ab initio approach to reconstruction, adsorption, and incorporation on GaN surfaces. Finally, the theoretical description of non-polar and semipolar nitride semiconductor quantum-well structures is presented by Ahn et al. In a discussion of the optical properties, Kisin et al discuss the effect of the quantum well population on the optical characteristics of polar, semipolar and non-polar III-nitride light emitters, and Jönen et al investigate the indium incorporation and optical properties of non- and semipolar GaInN QW structures. Wernicke et al explore the emission wavelength of polar, non-polar, and semipolar InGaN quantum wells and the incorporation of indium. In a contribution by Melo et al, the gain in polar and non-polar/semipolar gallium-nitride-based laser diodes is compared. Leung et al discuss the optical emission characteristics of semipolar (1122) GaN light-emitting diodes on m-sapphire and stripe-etched r-sapphire, and Jung et al present results on high brightness non-polar a-plane GaN light-emitting diodes. Finally, in a review Konar et al discuss the charge transport in non- and semipolar III-V nitride heterostructures, and Ishida et al present the latest results on non-polar AlGaN/GaN HFETs with a normally-off operation.Overall, we think that this special issue of Semiconductor Science and Technology provides a comprehensive overview of the state-of-the-art in the field on non-polar and semipolar nitride materials and devices. In view of the rapidly growing interest in this field, the demonstrated enhanced device performance and the wide range of applications, this special issue can be considered a very timely contribution. Finally, we would like to thank the IOP editorial staff, in particular Jarlath McKenna, for their support, and we would also like to thank all contributors for their efforts in making this special issue possible.