NANOWIRE-BASED LIGHT-EMITTING DIODES: A NEW PATH TOWARDS HIGH-SPEED VISIBLE LIGHT COMMUNICATION

Abstract

Nano-scale optoelectronic devices have gained significant attention in recent years. Among these devices are semiconductor nanowires, whose dimeters range from 100 to 200 nm. Semiconductor nanowires can be utilized in many different applications including light-emitting diodes and laser diodes. Higher surface to volume ratio makes nanowire-based structures potential candidates for the next generation of photodetectors, sensors, and solar cells. Core-shell light-emitting diodes based on selective-area growth of gallium nitride (GaN) nanowires provide a wide range of advantages. Among these advantages are access to non-polar m-plane sidewalls, higher active region area compared to conventional planar structures, and reduction of threading dislocation density. In this work, metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) was employed to grow GaN nanowires. GaN nanowires were grown selectively using a dielectric mask. The effect of mask geometry and growth conditions on the morphology and dimensions of the GaN nanowires were studied. It is shown that the pitch spacing between each nanowire has a significant effect on the geometry of the GaN nanowires. Growth of quantum wells around the GaN nanowires was also investigated. A feasible approach towards monolithically integrated multi-color LEDs was presented, which is not possible using conventional planar LEDs. The nanowire approach offers a potential way to overcome the current issue of pick-and-place for micro-LED displays, fabricated using planar LEDs. Core-shell nanowire-based LEDs were successfully fabricated and the opto-electrical characteristics of the LEDs were investigated. An equivalent circuit model for the LED was proposed, and a thorough investigation of RF characterizations of the LEDs was presented. This work paves the way to understand the limiting factor for 3-dB modulation bandwidth in nanowire LEDs. Finally, different types of plasmonic nanostructures were proposed to improve the 3-dB modulation bandwidth