Nitride LEDs: Multicolor InGaN nanowire LED arrays span the visible spectrum

Indium gallium nitride (InGaN)-based LEDs have revolutionized the lighting and other industries, leading to high-power white-light LEDs, among other achievements. However, due to properties of bulk InGaN, conventional InGaN LEDs can only be made to emit light at wavelengths between the UV and the green spectral regions.

Now, researchers at McGill University (Montreal, QC, Canada), New Jersey Institute of Technology (Newark), and Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (Suwon-si, South Korea) have fabricated phosphor-free red, orange, yellow, green, and blue InGaN nanowire LED arrays monolithically integrated on silicon (Si). To create different colors, only the nanowire properties need be changed.