Porosification of nitride semiconductors provides a new paradigm for advanced engineering of the properties of optoelectronic materials. Electrochemical etching creates porosity in doped layers while leaving undoped layers undamaged, allowing the realization of complex three-dimensional porous nanostructures, potentially offering a wide range of functionalities, such as in-distributed Bragg reflectors. Porous/non-porous multilayers can be formed by etching the whole, as-grown wafers uniformly in one simple process, without any additional processing steps. The etch penetrates from the top down through the undoped layers, leaving them almost untouched. Here, atomic-resolution electron microscopy is used to show that the etchant accesses the doped layers via nanometer-scale channels that form at dislocation cores and transport the etchant and etch products to and from the doped layer, respectively. Results on AlGaN and non-polar GaN multilayers indicate that the same mechanism is operating, suggesting that this approach may be applicable in a range of materials.

Non-polar (11-20) a-plane quantum dots (QDs) are strong candidates for both > 200 K on-chip ultrafast polarized single-photon generation and the investigation of high temperature semiconductor QD photophysics. In this work, we report progress in the growth of a-plane InGaN QDs with a quasi-two-temperature method, which produces smooth epilayers and significantly reduced carrier trapping sites in the proximity of the QDs. Optical characterization has confirmed the ability of such QDs to emit polarized single photons and we have recorded a ~ 45% shorter average radiative lifetime and 65% reduction in the slow-timescale spectral diffusion compared to previous QDs. This growth method is an important development of the non-polar a-plane InGaN platform, opening up more possibilities in single-photon, lasing, and fundamental investigations.

A detailed temporal analysis of the spectral diffusion phenomenon in single photon emitting InGaN/GaN quantum dots (QDs) is performed via measurements of both time-varying emission spectra and single photon emission intensity autocorrelation times. Excitation dependent phenomena are investigated via the optical excitation of carriers into the GaN barrier material and also directly into InGaN. Excitation into InGaN reveals that the fastest environmental fluctuations occur on timescales as long as a few hundreds of nanoseconds: an order of magnitude longer than previously measured in GaN QDs. Such long time scales may in future allow for the generation of indistinguishable photons in spite of the fact that the experimentally measured linewidths are broad.

Nitride-based quantum dots (QDs) show promise as sources for single photon emission, enabling comparably high temperature emission and access to the blue and green spectral region. Some droplets forming during modified droplet epitaxy on non-polar (11-20) surfaces of InGaN epilayers on GaN are associated with underlying ring-like structures. The work by Springbett et al. (pp. 840–844) discusses droplet etching as a possible mechanism for ring formation, whereby In and Ga atoms are incorporated into the droplet and diffuse to the edges. Thereafter, recrystallization occurs, leading to the formation of a ring. It is hypothesised that the droplet then creeps in a direction determined by the crystallographic anisotropy and the surface energetics. Once this movement halts, etching continues. The resulting structure consists of a recession enclosed by a double ring. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis shows the droplets move along the ⟨0001⟩ c-axis, and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDXS) indicates that they have a very high In content. These studies may help reveal the underlying QD formation mechanism during modified droplet epitaxy.

Droplets grown by modified droplet epitaxy on non‐polar (11‐20) surfaces of InGaN epilayers on GaN have been seen to be associated with underlying ring‐like structures. This work discusses droplet etching as a possible mechanism for ring formation, and droplet creeping as a possible explanation for the droplets sitting askew of the ring centre. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis shows the droplets to move along the c‐axis, and indicates that they have a very high indium content.The image shows atomic force microscopy (AFM) data of a double‐ring structure, rendered in 3D.