The book contains about 340 pages, 246 figures and 49 tables, organized in 15 chapters.
It mainly reproduces the results of Nakamura's papers, with some additional comments and discussions, logically gathered and linked together. The scientific context is well described, concerning previous and parallel results, through 430 references to the existing literature.
In chapter 1 and 2, an introduction to the subject is done and the technical and historical background is summarized. In this part, the main applications for GaN light emitters, the key steps towards a successful commercial light emitters are described. You will also discover how Nichia Chemical, Nakamura's company, decided to gamble 3.3 million USD on GaN research and development.
Then in chapter 3, a very brief summary of the physics of GaN and related compounds is given (crystal structure, electronic properties, phonons, ...).
Chapters 4 to 7 cover the growth and doping of GaN. The two flow reactor and the in-situ monitoring of GaN growth is covered in chapter 4, p-type GaN obtained by electron iradiation treatment and the first pn GaN junctions in chapter 5, Chapter 6 deals with n-type doping using Si or Ge while chapter 7 summarize the results of p-type doping and the hydrogen compensation problem.
In chapter 8, the growth and doping of InGaN, as well as the realization of InGaN based quantum heterostructures are described.
After this first part (roughly one half of the book) dealing with materials growth and doping, the basic building blocks for light emitters, the second part is dedicated to devices based on nitrides, their design, characterization and optimization.
Chapters 9 and 10 cover the LED issues, from double heterostructure to single quantum well structures, as well as the InGaN + YAG white LED.
In chapter 11, the authors discuss the first laser diodes and their pulsed operation at room temperature, fabricated on sapphire or MgAl2O4 substrates. Optical spectra, electrical characteristics, optical gain, carrier lifetime and mode spectra are given and analyzed for this first generation of blue laser devices.
In chapter 12, the emission mechanisms of LED and laser diodes are briefly discussed.
Chapter 13 details the cw operation at room temperature of the latest generation of laser diodes designed at Nichia, with a lifetime of 27-35 hours.
Finally, in chapter 14, the use of self-organized InGaN quantum dots in nitride lasers is proposed and chapter 15 contains the conclusions of the book.
This book constitutes a very coherent and extremely useful synthesis of all the work which has led to the attainment of a room temperature cw blue laser. A must have for students and researchers in the field.
Olivier BRIOT GES-CNRS, CC074 Universite Montpellier II Place E.Bataillon 34095 Montpellier Cedex 5 France Email: obriot@epi.univ-montp2.fr