Selective area growth of AlGaN nanopyramid arrays on graphene by metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy

Wide-bandgap group III-nitride semiconductors are of special interest for applications in ultraviolet light emitting diodes, photodetectors, and lasers. However, epitaxial growth of high-quality III-nitride semiconductors on conventional single-crystalline substrates is challenging due to the lattice mismatch and differences in the thermal expansion coefficients. Recently, it has been shown that graphene, a two-dimensional material, can be used as a substrate for growing high-quality III–V semiconductors via quasi-van der Waals epitaxy and overcome the named challenges. Here, we report selective area growth of AlGaN nanopyramids on hole mask patterned single-layer graphene using metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy. The nanopyramid bases have a hexagonal shape with a very high nucleation yield. After subsequent AlGaN/GaN/AlGaN overgrowth on the six 101¯1 semi-polar side facets of the nanopyramids, intense room-temperature cathodoluminescence emission is observed at 365 nm with whispering gallery-like modes. This work opens up a route for achieving III-nitride opto-electronic devices on graphene substrates in the ultraviolet region for future applications.