Strain relaxation and optical properties of etched In 0.19 Ga 0.81 N nanorod arrays on the GaN template
InGaN/GaN epilayers, which are grown on sapphire substrates by the metal—organic chemical-vapour deposition (MOCVD) method, are formed into nanorod arrays using inductively coupled plasma etching via self-assembled Ni nanomasks. The formation of nanorod arrays eliminates the tilt of the InGaN (0002) crystallographic plane with respect to its GaN bulk layer. Photoluminescence results show an apparent S-shaped dependence on temperature. The light extraction efficiency and intensity of photoluminescence emission at low temperature of less than 30 K for the nanorod arrays are enhanced by the large surface area, which increases the quenching effect because of the high density of surface states for the temperature above 30 K. Additionally, a red-shift for the InGaN/GaN nanorod arrays is observed due to the strain relaxation, which is confirmed by reciprocal space mapping measurements.