1. Brief introduction
III-Nitrides semiconductors, their compounds and nanostructures are very fascinating systems due to their intriguing fundamental properties leading to interesting applications in various fields (photovoltaics, solid state lighting, high frequency electronics). This issue provides a valuable contribution to this field as it integrates experimental and theoretical approaches, and presents an overview of different aspects of III-N structures: growth-related problems, defects analyses, advanced characterization methods, and the discussion of electronic, structural and vibrational properties. We hope that this special issue contributes to a more general understanding about the fundamental aspects of III-Nitride nanostructures by presenting the state of the art in this field to the broad community of materials scientists.
2. Graphical abstract
3. CVs
Daniela Cavalcoli is Associate Professor at the Physics and Astronomy Department of the University of Bologna, Italy. Her research activity is related to the study of semiconductors, devices, nanostructures for photovoltaic, optoelectronic and micro and nano-electronic applications. She has coordinated the Bologna section in National Research projects in the field of light emission from III- Nitrides, she has been involved in European Research Projects on III-Nitrides and on Si based materials for photovoltaic applications. She is expert evaluator for the European Commission within FP7 and Horizon 2020 Programs since 2008. She is co-authors of several research papers in international journals.
More info at: http://www.unibo.it/faculty/daniela.cavalcoli
Ana Cros is Professor at the Department of Applied Physics and Electromagnetism and Head of the Institute of Materials Science of the University of Valencia (ICMUV). Her research activities are focused on the study of nanostructured materials with optoelectronic and photovoltaic applications, with emphasis on nitride semiconductor quantum dots and nanowires studied by means of optical spectroscopies and scanning probe techniques. Since 2013, she is President of the Local Section (Valencia) of the Royal Spanish Society of Physics.
More info at: www.uv.es/cros and www.uv.es/icmuv.
Lorenzo Rigutti earned his Ph.D. in Physics in 2006 at the University of Bologna, Italy, with a study on the electrical activity of defects in wide bandgap semiconductors. After a post-doc on nanowire physics and device technology at the Institute of Fundamental Electronics in Orsay, France, he joined in 2012 the Group of Materials Physics of the University of Rouen, France, where he develops multi-microscopic instruments and methods based on the Tomographic Atom Probe.
More info at:
http://www.univ-rouen.fr/version-francaise/outils/m-rigutti-lorenzo-237841.kjsp
4. The below papers are freely available to download via ScienceDirect.
GaN nanowires on diamond, by Martin Hetzl et al. (M. Stutzmann)
Electron beam induced current microscopy investigation of GaN nanowire arrays grown on Si substrates, by Vladimir Neplokh et al. (M. Tchernycheva)
Chemical composition fluctuations and strain relaxation in InGaN nanowires: The role of the metal/nitrogen flux ratio, by X. Zhang et al. (B. Daudin)
Ultraviolet light emitting diodes using III-N quantum dots, by J. Brault et al. (B. Gil)
Metalorganic chemical vapor deposition of GaN nanowires: From catalyst-assisted to catalyst-free growth, and from self-assembled to selective-area growth, By B. Alloing et al. (a review. J. Zuñiga).