Repeated temperature modulation epitaxy for p-type doping and light-emitting diode based on ZnO

The demand for compact ultraviolet laser devices is increasing, as they are essential in applications such as optical storage, photocatalysis, sterilization, ophthalmic surgery and nanosurgery. Many researchers are devoting considerable effort to finding materials with larger bandgaps than that of GaN. Here we show that hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) is a promising material for such laser devices because it has a direct bandgap in the ultraviolet region. We obtained a pure hBN single crystal under high-pressure and high-temperature conditions, which shows a dominant luminescence peak and a series of s-like exciton absorption bands around 215 nm, proving it to be a direct-bandgap material. Evidence for room-temperature ultraviolet lasing at 215 nm by accelerated electron excitation is provided by the enhancement and narrowing of the longitudinal mode, threshold behaviour of the excitation current dependence of the emission intensity, and a far-field pattern of the transverse mode.

Zinc oxide, a wide-band-gap semiconductor with many technological applications, typically exhibits n-type conductivity. The cause of this conductivity has been widely debated. A first-principles investigation, based on density functional theory, produces strong evidence that hydrogen acts as a source of conductivity: it can incorporate in high concentrations and behaves as a shallow donor. This behavior is unexpected and very different from hydrogen's role in other semiconductors, in which it acts only as a compensating center and always counteracts the prevailing conductivity. These insights have important consequences for control and utilization of hydrogen in oxides in general.