All-oxide ultraviolet (UV) photosensors based on NiO/ZnO nanowire heterostructure were fabricated on corning glass substrates. The p-type NiO layers were directly deposited on the ZnO nanowire arrays grown on the AZO bottom electrode/glass for the formation of a p–n diode, followed by the growth of the ITO top electrode layer for the electrical interconnection of nanostructures. The fabricated device structure showed a transmittance value of about 60% in the visible region, resulting in semitransparent properties. The current–voltage (I–V) characteristics of the fabricated p–n heterostructure showed a typical rectifying behavior with a current rise at about 4 V and an I(forward)/I(reverse) ratio of about 11.3 at 8 V. In addition, the ITO/p-NiO/n-ZnO/AZO structure responded at a wave-length position of 370 nm in reverse bias, together with weak photoresponse in the visible region. An UV sensor based on the all-oxide ZnO nanowire absorber exhibited improved photoresponse compared to the device based on a ZnO thin film.

Thin-film transistors (TFTs) utilizing a TiZnSnO (TZTO) channel layer were fabricated by using a solution process. The effect of annealing temperature on the device performance of the TZTO TFTs was investigated. TFTs with nanocrystalline TZTO films exhibited a better device performance than those with amorphous TZTO films. The on/off current ratio of the TZTO TFTs annealed at 600 °C was as large as 4.2 × 106. The field-effect mobility (μFE) of 4.1 cm2/Vs and subthreshold swing of 1.2 V/decade were achieved.

By injecting additional argon gas, we were able to grow one-dimensional ZnO nanorod arrays with a uniform distribution on a large scale at a low temperature of less than 330 °C by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. All of the nanorods grown on the sapphire substrate had a 30° in-plane rotation with respect to the substrate and showed the epitaxial characteristics of [10¯10]ZnO//[11¯20]sapphire, despite the low-temperature growth. These ZnO nanorods with high crystalline quality exhibited a high enhancement factor and low turn-on field value, thus having good potential to be used as a field emitter.

ZnO nanostructures were grown directly on sapphire substrates and GaN epilayers by thermal evaporation. Their morphologies and densities were found to be strongly dependent on the synthesis position and the kinds of substrate loaded into the reactor due to the different oxygen densities and the lattice mismatch, respectively. Scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy studies revealed that ZnO nanorods on sapphire substrates grew in four directions, one 〈0001〉Sapphire and three (1014)Sapphire directions. It was found that the in-plane lattice mismatch of inclined ZnO nanorods was remarkably reduced by forming the planar relationship of (0002)ZnO//(1014)Sapphire, compared to that of (1120)ZnO//(1010)Sapphire in the ZnO film. On the other hand, for the GaN epilayers, vertically well-aligned ZnO nanorods were grown after growing an epitaxial ZnO film due to reduced lattice mismatch. Electron energy-loss spectroscopy data showed that Zn-rich stoichiometry was responsible for the formation of ZnO nanostructures.

III-nitride films were grown on the corrugated interface substrate using a metalorganic chemical vapor deposition system to increase the optical power of white LEDs. The patterning of a substrate for enhancing the extraction efficiency was processed using an inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching system and the surface morphology of the etched sapphire wafer and that of the non-etched one were investigated using an atomic force microscope. The structural and optical properties of GaN on CIS were characterized by a high-resolution x-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, AFM and photoluminescence. The roughness of the etched sapphire wafer was higher than that of the non-etched one. The GaN layer didn't grow locally over the surface of the cone shape pattern. The reason is that (0001) c-plane which is favor for GaN growth doesn't exist on the cone shape patterned region. The lateral growth of the GaN layer that was initially grown on the (0001) c-plane among pattern regions, was enhanced by raising the growth temperature and lowering the reactor pressure, resulting in the smooth surface over the pattern region. The (102) FWHM of GaN layer on the patterned substrate was better than that of GaN on the conventional substrate and no defect was detected at the interface of the cone shape pattern. The optical power of the LED on the patterned substrate was 20% higher than that on the conventional substrate due to the increased extraction efficiency.

We report the effect of strain-induced indium clustering on the emission properties of InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells grown with high indium composition by MOCVD. Nanosize indium clustering confirmed by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy results in the redshift of the emission peak and the increase of the integrated photoluminescence (PL) intensity. We found that strong carrier localization in indium clustering induces the increases of the activation energy of PL integrated intensity and the temperature independence of PL decay profiles. All these observations suggest structurally and optically that the improved emission properties in the InGaN/GaN multiple quantum well with high indium composition are associated with the localized states in the nano-size indium cluster.

We have investigated the formation of inversion domain boundaries in Al0.13Ga0.87N layers grown on sapphire substrates by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition using transmission electron microscopy. By increasing the Mg source flow rate, the reduction of dislocation density occurred up to the Mg source flow rate of 0.103 μmol/min. While the vertical type inversion domain boundaries (IDBs) were observed in the Al0.13Ga0.87N layers grown with the low Mg source flow rate, the IDBs in the Al0.13Ga0.87N layers grown with the high Mg source flow rate have horizontally multifaceted shapes. The change of polarity by the IDBs of horizontal type also resulted in the 180°rotation of pyramidal defects within the same AlGaN layer. Therefore, We found that the Mg source flow rate affects significantly the dislocation density, the type of IDBs, and the shape of pyramidal defects in AlGaN layers.