Characteristics of dielectrophoretically aligned UV-blue GaN nanowire LEDs

This is a report on the characteristics of UV-blue light emitting diodes (LEDs) containing homojunction gallium nitride (GaN) nanowires (NWs). These LEDs were prepared by the dielectrophoresis assisted assembly deposition (DAAD) method. The incorporation of an additional silicon dioxide (SiO2) and a Au capping metal layer was found to improve the electrical and optical properties of the DAAD-prepared GaN NW LEDs. These LEDs exhibited a parasitic series resistance of 120-180 komega with a sharp turn-on forward voltage of 3.4-4.0 V and had as low as approximately approximately 7 x 10(-7) A of leakage current for a reverse bias of -10 V. Typical electroluminescence (EL) spectra, observed from these LEDs under a forward bias, had a broad ultraviolet (UV)-blue emission with a wavelength of 388-422 nm. These LEDs could be seen with the naked eye. We concluded that the high-brightness EL spectra resulted from the enhancement of the carrier injection due to the size effect of the n-GaN nanowires on the p-GaN substrate.