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Non-polar (1-100 ) and semipolar (1-101)GaN layers were grown on (112) and (001) Si substrates, respectively, by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. In both cases, grooves aligned parallel to the <110> Si direction were formed by anisotropic wet etching to expose vertical {111}Si facets for growth initiation. The effect of growth conditions (substrate temperature, chamber pressure, ammonia and trimethylgallium flow rates) on the growth habits of GaN was studied. It was found that low pressure and low ammonia flow rate are beneficial for m-facet formation, while high ammonia flow rate promotes formation of (1-101) facets. Steady-state and time-resolved photoluminescence measurements revealed that the optical quality of (1-101) oriented GaN is comparable to that of c-plane GaN film grown on sapphire. The nonpolar (1-100 ) GaN shows only weak emission and fast non-radiative recombination rate. The poor optical quality of the mplane GaN can be explained by carbon incorporation during the growth under low pressure. Although further optimization of the growth conditions for better optical quality is required, preliminary results obtained for semipolar (1-101) -oriented GaN are encouraging.

We report on the effects of substrate temperature and surface morphology of p-GaN templates on the properties of ZnO:Ga (GZO) layers grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. Substrate temperature varying from 200 °C to 450°C was found to have only a moderate effect on the electrical properties of GZO films but it greatly affects the surface morphology of the GZO films. The surface morphology and growth mode of GZO were also found to be considerably affected by the surface morphology of underlying p-GaN templates. On p-GaN templates with a smooth surface (RMS = 0.4 nm) featured by clear atomic steps, GZO layers grew in 2D growth mode and exhibited smooth surfaces with RMS roughness of 2 nm. In contrast, on p-GaN without clear atomic steps but having comparable surface roughness of 0.6 nm, GZO layers grew in 3D growth mode and exhibited rough surface (RMS roughness of ~17.0-20.0 nm). The results of surface roughness are consistent with those from TEM measurements. The lowest resistivity of ~2.3×10-4·cm for as-grown GZO layers has been achieved at substrate temperature of 350°C, while the data for 2D GZO layers was affected by a parallel conduction channel from underneath GaN and require further studies. Although the differences in electrical properties and surface morphology existed, the GZO layers grown on different p-GaN templates showed optical transparency higher than 90% in the visible spectral range. The performance of 3D GZO layers as p-electrode was tested in InGaN light emitting diodes.

We report on the electrical and optical properties of InGaN based light emitting diodes LEDs utilizing Ga doped ZnO GZO grown by molecular beam epitaxy MBE as a highly transparent contact pelectrode GZOLEDs. For comparison, the LEDs with semitransparent thin NiAu 55 nm current spreading layers were also fabricated on the same wafer NiAuLEDs. Unpackaged GZOLEDs with 200 µm diameter showed negligible light output degradation for up to 30 min under CW current of 100 mA corresponding to a 318 Acm2current density, while the light output for NiAuLEDs was reduced by 85 after only 5 min of operation due to the severe current crowding effect or current filamentation. Pulsed electroluminescence EL measurements revealed that the GZOLEDs exhibit 50 higher EL intensity for the same current levels.

In recent years, electrochemical biosensors based on semiconductor and metal nanostructures have attracted a great deal of attention as new instruments in the healthcare arsenal that could substantially enhance early diagnostics capabilities and thus enable active health management. Among numerous materials studied, nanostructured ZnO has been recognized as a promising platform for biomedical applications owing to its low cost, relative ease of preparation leading to a rich variety of nanostructures with high aspect ratios (nanowires, nanobelts, nanoflakes), proven biocompatibility in the bulk form, electronic properties supporting various device types, and catalytic surface activity. In this contribution, we review the recent progress in development of enzymatic and non-enzymatic biosensors based on ZnO nanostructures. After a critical discussion of biocompatibility of nanostructured ZnO, we segue into the discussion of ZnO-based devices for detection of physiologically important analytes, including glucose, cholesterol, L-lactic acid, uric acid, metal ions, and pH. Special attention is given to ZnO nanorod based sensors for intracellular measurements.

We report on the effects of metal organic epitaxy grown GaN templates with different surface morphologies, achieved under different chamber pressures of 200 and 400 Torr, on the electrical properties of GZO. For as-grown GZO layers with electron concentration above 1020cm-3grown on either 200-Torr p-GaN or 400-Torr p-GaN templates, the electron concentration is temperature-dependent as opposed to temperature-independence for GZO/a-sapphires, which demonstrates that the underlying GaN layers affect the GZO electrical properties measured by Hall method. By annealing in nitrogen environment or by inserting a thick ZnO buffer layer, the effects of the underlying GaN layers on GZO electrical properties can be eliminated paving the way for accurate determination of electrical properties. All three annealed GZO layers grown on 200-Torr p-GaN, 400-Torr p-GaN, and a-sapphire, exhibited comparable electron mobilities (~50 cm2/V·s at 15 K and ~41 cm2/V·s at 300 K) and similar temperature dependences while their electron concentrations are different (5.1×1020, 7.1×1020, and 9.2×1020cm-3) due to the substrate-caused differences in GZO growth mode, structure, etc. By means of simulations, ionized impurity scattering was found to be the dominant scattering mechanism in the range of 15-330 K for GZO when electron concentration is higher than 5×1020cm-3. Although other scattering events caused by defects and structures are weaker than the ionized impurity scattering, the electrical properties could be still slightly improved by finding more optimized growth conditions to eliminate defects and/or to improve crystal quality.

High resolution transmission electron microscopy and aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) reveal a new void defect in GaN, Si-doped GaN, and InGaN. The voids are pyramid shaped with symmetric hexagonal {0001} base facets and {10-11} side facets. The pyramid void has a closed or open core dislocation at the peak of the pyramid, which continues up along the [0001] growth direction. The closed dislocations have a 1/3 11-20 edge dislocation Burgers vector component, consistent with known threading dislocations. The open core dislocations are hexagonal shaped with pure screw character, {10-10} side facets, varying lateral widths, and varying degrees of hexagonal symmetry. STEM electron energy loss spectroscopy spectrum imaging revealed a larger C concentration inside the void and below the void than above the void. We propose that carbon deposition during metal organic chemical vapor deposition growth acts as a mask, stopping the GaN deposition locally. Subsequent layers of GaN deposited around the C covered region create the overhanging {10-11} facets, and the meeting of the six {10-11} facets at the pyramid's peak is not perfect, resulting in a dislocation.

Semipolar (1-101) GaN layers were grown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition on patterned (001) Si substrates. The effects of reactor pressure and substrate temperature on optical properties of (1-101) GaN were studied by steadystate and time-resolved photoluminescence. The optical measurements revealed that the optical quality of (1-101)- oriented GaN is comparable to that of c-plane GaN film grown on sapphire. Slow decay time constants, representative of the radiative recombination, for semipolar (1-101)GaN grown at 200 Torr are found to be very long (~1.8 ns), comparable to those for the state-of-art c-plane GaN templates grown using in situ epitaxial lateral overgrowth through silicon nitride nano-network. Defect distribution in the GaN stripes was studied by spatially resolved cathodeluminescence measurements. The c+-wing regions of the GaN stripes were found to be dominated by a (D0,X) emission. Only a thin slice of emission around 3.42 eV related to basal stacking faults was revealed in c--wing regions.