Selective area growth of In(Ga)N/GaN nanocolumns by molecular beam epitaxy on GaN-buffered Si(111): from ultraviolet to infrared emission

Selective area growth of In(Ga)N/GaN nanocolumns was performed on GaN-buffered Si(111) substrates by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. Undoped and Si-doped GaN buffer layers were first grown on Si(111) substrates, showing photoluminescence excitonic emission without traces of other low energy contributions, in particular, the yellow band. The GaN buffer surface roughness (between 10 and 14 nm, the rms value in a 10 × 10 μm(2) area) was low enough to allow the fabrication of a thin (7 nm thick) well defined Ti nanohole mask, for the selective area growth. Ordered In(Ga)N/GaN nanocolumns emitting from the ultraviolet (3.2 eV) to the infrared (0.78 eV) were obtained. The morphology and the emission efficiency of the In(Ga)N/GaN nanocolumns emitting at a given wavelength could be substantially improved by tuning the In/Ga and total III/N ratios. An estimated internal quantum efficiency of 36% was derived from photoluminescence data for green emitting nanocolumns.