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Recent breakthroughs in bulk crystal growth of the thermodynamically stable beta phase of gallium oxide ($\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$) have led to the commercialization of large-area beta-Ga$_2$O$_3$ substrates with subsequent epitaxy on (010) substrates producing high-quality films. Still, metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), and processing of the (010) $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ surface are known to form sub-nanometer scale facets along the [001] direction as well as larger ridges with features perpendicular to the [001] direction. A density function theory calculation of the (010) surface shows an ordering of the surface as a sub-nanometer-scale feature along the [001] direction. Additionally, the general crystal structure of $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ is presented and recommendations are presented for standardizing (010) substrates to account for and control the larger-scale ridge formation., Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures

A GaN resonant cavity light emitting diode was built on a GaN-AlN distributed Bragg reflector grown on a silicon substrate. The electroluminescence output increased by 2.5 times for a GaN diode coupled to a properly designed resonant cavity. Theoretical calculations showed that this enhancement could increase up to four times for transmission through a sem-transparent metal contact design, up to eight times for a flip-chip design

An all-epitaxial approach was demonstrated to create coaxial plasmon laser structures composed of an alumi-num plasmonic metal / SiNx dielectric / InGaN quantum well shell surrounding a p-GaN nanowire core. Strong UV lumi-nescence was observed from as-grown vertically-aligned arrays as well as horizontally-aligned nanowires transferred to a transparent carrier wafer.

A two-dimensional (2D) ZnS photonic crystal was deposited on the surface of a one-dimensional (1D) III-nitride micro cavity light-emitting diode (LED), to intermix the light extraction features of both structures (1D+2D). The deposition of an ideal micro-cavity optical thickness of lambda/2 is impractical for III-nitride LEDs, and in realistic multi-mode devices a large fraction of the light is lost to internal refraction as guided light. Therefore, a 2D photonic crystal on the surface of the LED was used to diffract and thus redirect this guided light out of the semiconductor over several hundred microns. Additionally, the employment of a post-epitaxy ZnS 2D photonic crystal avoided the typical etching into the GaN:Mg contact layer, a procedure which can cause damage to the near surface.

An undoped AlGaN/GaN nanowire demonstrated p-type conductivity based solely on the formation of hole carriers in response to the negative polarization field at the (000-1) AlGaN/GaN facet. A transistor based on this nanowire displayed a low-voltage transition from Ohmic to space charge limited conduction. A numerical simulation showed that a highly asymmetric strain exists across the triangular cross-section, which creates a doublet peak in the piezoelectric induced polarization sheet charge at the (000-1) facet. Additionally, there is a strong interplay between the charge at the (000-1) AlGaN/GaN interface with depletion from the three surfaces as well as an interaction with the opposing polarization fields at two semi-polar {-110-1} facets. The charge distribution and resultant conduction regime is highly interdependent on configuration of the multi-layer structure, and is not amenable to an analytical model.

This article presents the use of flexible metal foam substrates for the growth of III-nitride nanowire light emitters to tackle the inherent limitations of thin-film light emitting diodes as well as fabrication and application issues of traditional substrates. A dense packing of gallium nitride nanowires were grown on a nickel foam substrate. The nanowires grew predominantly along the a-plane direction, normal to the local surface of the nickel foam. Strong luminescence was observed from undoped GaN and InGaN quantum well light emitting diode nanowires.

This article presents the use of flexible carbon substrates for the growth of III-nitride nanowire light emitters. A dense packing of gallium nitride nanowires were grown on a carbon paper substrate. The nanowires grew predominantly along the a-plane direction, normal to the local surface of the carbon paper. Strong photo- and electro-luminescence was observed from InGaN quantum well light emitting diode nanowires.

Silver nanoparticles dispersed on the surface of an inverted GaN LED were found to plasmonically enhance the near-bandedge emission. The resonant surface plasmon coupling led to a significant enhancement in the exciton decay rate and the ensemble of nanoparticles provided a mechanism to scatter the coupled energy as free space radiation. The inverted LED structure employed a tunnel junction to avoid the standard thick p+ GaN current spreading contact layer. In contrast to a standard design, the top contact was a thin n++ AlGaN layer, which brought the quantum well into the fringing field of the silver nanoparticles. This proximity allowed the excitons induced within the quantum well to couple to the surface plasmons, which in turn led to the enhanced band edge emission from the LED.