M-Plane GaN/InAlN Multiple Quantum Wells in Core–Shell Wire Structure for UV Emission

We report on the epitaxial growth of high-quality core–shell nonpolar m-plane GaN/InAlN multiple quantum wells (MQWs) on the sidewall facets of c-oriented hexagonal GaN wires. Pseudomorphic growth without generation of threading dislocations has been established for planar GaN/InAlN (In = 15%) MQWs grown on m-GaN substrates, although m-plane InAlN epilayers cannot be grown perfectly lattice-matched to GaN along the two in-plane directions. Calculations based on elasticity theory indicate that the significant amount of strain oriented along the c-axis is the likely factor favoring the formation of cracks along this direction. For the core–shell wire geometry, such cracks are not observed, leading to high structural quality MQWs. A significant UV emission centered around 3.7 eV at room temperature with a strong polarization perpendicular to the wire axis is observed for those core–shell wires, which is consistent with k·p method calculations, proving the absence of quantum confined Stark effect on nonpolar ...