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Ultralow-threshold electrically injected AlGaN nanowire ultraviolet lasers on Si operating at low temperature

Nature Nanotechnology volume 10, pages 140–144 (2015)Cite this article

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Abstract

Ultraviolet laser radiation has been adopted in a wide range of applications as diverse as water purification, flexible displays, data storage, sterilization, diagnosis and bioagent detection1,2,3. Success in developing semiconductor-based, compact ultraviolet laser sources, however, has been extremely limited. Here, we report that defect-free disordered AlGaN core–shell nanowire arrays, formed directly on a Si substrate, can be used to achieve highly stable, electrically pumped lasers across the entire ultraviolet AII (UV-AII) band (∼320–340 nm) at low temperatures. The laser threshold is in the range of tens of amps per centimetre squared, which is nearly three orders of magnitude lower than those of previously reported quantum-well lasers4,5,6. This work also reports the first demonstration of electrically injected AlGaN-based ultraviolet lasers monolithically grown on a Si substrate, and offers a new avenue for achieving semiconductor lasers in the ultraviolet B (UV-B) (280–320 nm) and ultraviolet C (UV-C) (<280 nm) bands.

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Figure 1: Simulation of AlGaN nanowire random cavity, and optical and structural characterization.
Figure 2: Characterization of a single AlGaN nanowire.
Figure 3: Device performance and characterization.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and US Army Research Office under Grant W911NF-12-1-0477. Part of the work was performed in the McGill University Micro Fabrication Facility.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, McGill University, 3480 University Street, Montreal, H3A 0E9, Quebec, Canada

    K. H. Li, X. Liu, Q. Wang, S. Zhao & Z. Mi

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  1. K. H. Li
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  2. X. Liu
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  4. S. Zhao
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  5. Z. Mi
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Contributions

K.H.L. fabricated the devices and carried out the experimental measurements. X.L. performed the device design and contributed to the theoretical calculations, device fabrication and measurements. K.H.L. and X.L. made equal contributions. S.Z. conducted the MBE growth of nanowires and contributed to the TEM analysis. Q.W. contributed to the preliminary works on device characteristics. Z.M. conceived the experiments and supervised and led the project. The paper was written by K.H.L. and Z.M. with contributions from the other authors.

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Correspondence to Z. Mi.

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Li, K., Liu, X., Wang, Q. et al. Ultralow-threshold electrically injected AlGaN nanowire ultraviolet lasers on Si operating at low temperature. Nature Nanotech 10, 140–144 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2014.308

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