Semipolar III Nitride Semiconductors: Crystal Growth, Device Fabrication, and Optical Anisotropy

Semipolar InGaN/GaN quantum wells (QWs) are quite attractive as visible light emitters. One of the reasons is that a better optical transition probability is expected because of weaker internal electric fields, compared to conventional polar QWs. In addition, in-plane optical polarization anisotropy, which is absent in conventional QWs, is another relevant property because it affects device design and also may provide a means for novel applications. We revealed that the in-plane optical anisotropy in semipolar QWs switched from one direction perpendicular to the [0001] crystal axis to the perpendicular direction as the In composition increases. This is a property unique to semipolar QWs and enables, for example, to make cavity mirrors of laser diodes by cleavage. In this article, we describe the concept of semipolar planes and fabrication of high-quality epitaxial films for semipolar QWs. Furthermore, we discuss device fabrication and optical polarization anisotropy.