Near infrared electroluminescence from n-InN/p-NiO/GaN light-emitting diode fabricated by PAMBE

The n-InN/p-NiO/GaN heterojunction was fabricated by using plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy (PAMBE) combined with radio frequency magnetron sputtering. The device exhibited typical rectification characteristic with a turn-on voltage of ~1.5V. Under forward bias, a dominant near infrared emission (NIR) peaked around 1565nm was detected at room temperature. The NIR emission was attributed to the band-edge emission of InN film according to the photoluminescence spectrum of InN layer. Furthermore, the mechanism of the current transport and light emission was tentatively discussed in terms of the band diagrams of the heterojunction. •Near infrared light-emitting diodes based on n-InN/p-NiO/GaN were fabricated.•NiO was chosen as the p-type conducting layer for hole carriers.•The diode exhibited dominant NIR emissions peaked around 1565nm under forward bias.•The NIR emission was attributed to the band-edge recombination from InN films.