Recent Progress of Nonpolar and Semipolar GaN on Sapphire Substrates for the Next Generation High Power Light Emitting Diodes

III-nitrides have attracted much attention for optoelectronic device applications whose emission wavelengths ranging from green to ultraviolet due to their wide band gap. However, due to the strong polarization properties of conventional c-plane III-nitrides, the built-in polarization-induced electric field limits the performance of optical devices. Therefore, there has been a renewed interest in the growth of nonpolar III-nitride semiconductors for polarization free heterostructure optoelectronic and electronic devices. However, the crystal and the optical quality of nonpolar/semipolar GaN have been poorer than those of conventional c-plane GaN, resulting in the relative poor optical and electrical properties of light emitting diodes (LEDs). In this presentation, I will discuss the growth and characterization of high quality nonpolar a-plane and semipolar (11-22) GaN and InGaN multiple quantum wells (MQWs) grown on r- and m-plane sapphire substrates, respectively, by using metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) without a low temperature GaN buffer layer. Especially, the epitaxial lateral overgrowth (ELO) technique will be also discussed to reduce the dislocation density and enhance the performance of nonpolar and semipolar GaN-based LEDs.