Optical Study of Sub-10 nm In0.3Ga0.7N Quantum Nanodisks in GaN Nanopillars

We have demonstrated the fabrication of homogeneously distributed In0.3Ga0.7N/GaN quantum nanodisks (QNDs) with a high density and average diameter of 10 nm or less in 30-nm-high nanopillars. The scalable top-down nanofabrication process used biotemplates that were spin-coated on an In0.3Ga0.7N/GaN single quantum well (SQW) followed by low-damage dry etching on ferritins with 7 nm diameter iron cores. The photoluminescence measurements at 70 K showed a blue shift of quantum energy of 420 meV from the In0.3Ga0.7N/GaN SQW to the QND. The internal quantum efficiency of the In0.3Ga0.7N/GaN QND was 100 times that of the SQW. A significant reduction in the quantum-confined Stark effect in the QND structure was observed, which concurred with the numerical simulation using a 3D Schrödinger equation. These results pave the way for the fabrication of large-scale III–N quantum devices using nanoprocessing, which is vital for optoelectronic communication devices.