(June 24, 2015) The
latest research from the Niels Bohr Institute shows that LEDs made from
nanowires will use less energy and provide better light. The researchers
studied nanowires using X-ray microscopy and with this method they can pinpoint
exactly how the nanowire should be designed to give the best properties. The
results are published in the scientific journal, ACS Nano.
Nanowires are very small – about 2 micrometers high (1 micrometer
is a thousandth of a millimetre) and 10-500 nanometers in diameter (1 nanometer
is a thousandth of a micrometer).
Nanowires for LEDs are made up of an inner core of gallium
nitride (GaN) and a layer of indium-gallium-nitride (InGaN) on the outside,
both of which are semiconducting materials.