PROGRESS AND PROSPECTS FOR GAN AND THE III-V-NITRIDE SEMICONDUCTORS

We review recent research results pertaining to GaN, AlN and InN, focu sing on present-day techniques and future prospects. The molecular bea m epitaxy and metal - organic vapor phase epitaxy growth techniques, a s they have been applied to the nitrides, are described. New developme nts in plasma-based sources and substrates are covered. We also discus s the most recent developments towards an eventual GaN-based device te chnology, including the first GaN p-n junction light-emitting diode. O ngoing work, aimed at developing the necessary processing skills for G aN devices, is presented. We conclude by discussing near-term goals an d identifying critical areas in need of future research.