Recent progress of indium-bearing group-III nitrides and devices: a review

During the past decades, group-III nitrides have emerged as a new impetus for the development of semiconductor industry and attracted significant attentions in different fields. Among them, indium-bearing group-III nitrides, such as InGaN, InAlN and their quaternary alloy InAlGaN show an adjustable bandgap in wide range including visible spectrum and ultraviolet spectrum, and their excellent electronic properties have been predicted by theoretical calculations. Therefore, indium-bearing group-III nitrides demonstrate great potential as solid lighting and photoelectric detection materials. However, the growth of high-quality indium-bearing group-III nitrides is hindered by the phase segregation of indium component and the lattice mismatch between substrate and epitaxial layer. Tremendous efforts have been paid to solve these issues, and remarkable results have been achieved accordingly. This review mainly focuses on the impressive results of theoretical calculation on properties of indium-bearing group-III nitrides and the breakthroughs in their epitaxial growth, together with the development of electron devices and photoelectric devices based on indium-bearing group-III nitrides. Based on the recent progress, the prospective for the future evolution of indium-bearing group-III nitrides and devices is speculated ultimately. This review provides a guideline for better understanding of the development of indium-bearing group-III nitrides and devices.