Fabrication of InGaN/GaN multi quantum well based nano-LEDs by hydrogen environment anisotropic thermal etching (HEATE) technique

InGaN/GaN multiple quantum well (MQW) nano-scale light emitting diodes (nano-LEDs) were fabricated by a hydrogen environment anisotropic thermal etching (HEATE) technique. HEATE is a GaN selective etching technique using SiO 2 masks based on thermal decomposition reaction of GaN in hydrogen environment at high-temperature around 800 1100°C. An InGaN/GaN MQW blue LED epitaxial wafer grown on (0001) Al 2 O 3 substrate was used as a starting material. The nanopillar LEDs fabricated by use of circular SiO 2 masks had truncated hexagonal pyramid shape with the (0001) top facet and six {20_21} side faces with hexagonal InGaN/GaN multi quantum disks (MQDs). The nanopillar LEDs showed good rectification characteristics and forward bias blue emission at room temperature without any post treatment to remove the etching damage. It was revealed that HEATE is an attractive technique for fabricating InGaN/GaN based fine nanostructure devices.