Crystal Growth and Conductivity Control of Group III Nitride Semiconductors and Their Application to Short Wavelength Light Emitters

Abstract

Recent development of technology and understanding of the growth mechanism in heteroepitaxial growth of nitrides on highly-mismatched substrates have enabled us to grow high-quality GaN, AlGaN, GaInN and their quantum well structures. Conductivity control of both n-type and p-type nitrides has also been achieved. These achievements have led to the commercialization of high-brightness blue, green and white light-emitting diodes and to the realization of short wavelength laser diodes and high-speed transistors based on nitrides. The performance of these devices is still progressing, but still requires advances in many areas of materials science and device fabrication.