III-V nitride based light-emitting devices

High brightness InGaN single-quantum-well structure (SQW) blue and green light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with luminous intensities of 2 cd and 10 cd have been achieved and commercialized. By combining these high-power and high-brightness blue InGaN SQW LED, green InGaN SQW LED and red AlInGaP LED, many kinds of applications, such as LED full-color displays and LED white lamps for use in place of incandescent or fluorescent lamps, are now possible with characteristics of high reliability, high durability and low energy consumption. Also, very recently, III-V nitride based laser diodes (LDs) were fabricated for the first time. These LDs emitted coherent light at 390-440 nm from an InGaN based multiquantum-well structure at room temperature. The emission wavelength is the shortest one ever generated by a semiconductor laser diode. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.