Cathodoluminescence for bulk and nanostructured Gallium Nitride-based LED materials

Gallium Nitride (GaN) is a versatile wide-band gap semiconductor material and member of the family of III/V semiconductors. It is a hard, robust material with exceptional optical and electrical properties. As such, it is employed in a wide variety of applications including LEDs for lighting and displays, laser diodes, and high-performance electronics(high voltage, temperature, and/or frequency).

For LED applications, GaN is normally grown in aheterostructure form with a number of InxGa1-xN quantum wells (QWs) which shift the light emission from the native band-gap energy of 3.4 eV (365 nm) in the ultraviolet to the visible part of the spectrum.