Flexible nitride nanowire optoelectronic devices

Flexible devices are today a topic of intense research, motivated by their numerous applications (e.g. flexible light emitting diodes for rollable displays). The flexible technology is dominated by organic semiconductors integrated on lightweight and flexible plastic substrates. Taking the example of light emitters, organic devices possess many advantages, but present severe limitations in the short wavelength range. Blue organic light emitting diodes suffer from rather low external quantum efficiency and a limited lifetime, while blue light emitting diodes based on nitride semiconductors reveal high brightness and efficiency. However, difficulties exist in the fabrication of flexible devices with conventional thin film structure. In this context, nitride nanowires offer an elegant solution to the problem. Single nanowires and nanowire array LEDs based on InGaN/GaN core/shell heterostructures have been successfully demonstrated on rigid substrates, showing excellent performances in the blue spectral range, thanks to their high crystalline quality and non-polar active region.