A new design boosts the brightness of UV GaN nanowire LEDs five fold

Researchers from the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) developed new GaN nanowire-based ultraviolet LEDs that are five times as bright as regular LEDs. The new design uses a silicon-doped GaN nanowire core coated with a shell made from magnesium-doped GaN and Aluminum.

The nanowires are built in a p-i-n structure and the researcher say that adding the Aluminum to the shell of the LED helps confine electrons to the nanowire core by introducing an asymmetry in the electrical current which boost the electroluminescence of the device.