This work focus on the integration of III-nitride materials, by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), on ZnO based templates and substrates. The objective is to explore the potential of (Al,Ga)N/GaN and (In,Ga)N/GaN multi-quantum wells (MQWs) grown on ZnO for the fabrication of light emitting diodes (LEDs). In particular, two crystal orientations are studied: the polar (0001) plane (c-plane) and the nonpolar (11-20) plane (a-plane). The structural and optical properties of epitaxial layers are mainly characterized by AFM, SEM, XRD, TEM and PL. A-plane (11-20) GaN layers have been grown on a-(Zn,Mg)O/r-sapphire templates by MBE. The surface morphology, the crystal microstructure, as well as the optical emission of a-GaN layers show strong anisotropic properties. A series of a-plane Al0.2Ga0.8N/GaN MQWs with different well thicknesses have been fabricated and the absence of quantum confined Stark effect in these nonopolar heterostructures has been evidenced. Processes of growing GaN on both c- and a- plane bulk ZnO substrates have been developed. In particular, GaN layers with either Ga- or N- polarities have been grown on O face ZnO, and their polarity determination mechanisms have been analyzed. (In,Ga)N/GaN MQWs based blue LEDs have been demonstrated on c- ZnO substrates. Output powers of 40 µW at 20 mA and 0.1 mW at 60 mA have been measured. Finally, a-plane (In,Ga)N/GaN MQWs are fabricated on bulk a-ZnO substrates and compared with c-plane MQWs grown under similar conditions. PL measurements indicate that a-plane MQWs exhibit a lower In incorporation efficiency and a polarized emission along <1-100> direction.
GaN based polar and nonpolar heterostructures grown on ZnO for optoelectronic applications