Recent progress in ZnO-based heterojunction ultraviolet light-emitting devices

Wide bandgap (3.37 eV) and high exciton-binding energy of ZnO (60 meV) make it a promising candidate for ultraviolet light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and low-threshold lasing diodes (LDs). However, the difficulty in producing stable and reproducible high-quality p-type ZnO has hindered the development of ZnO p–n homojunction LEDs. An alternative strategy for achieving ZnO electroluminescence is to fabricate heterojunction devices by employing other available p-type materials (such as p-GaN) or building new device structures. In this article, we will briefly review the recent progress in ZnO LEDs/LDs based on p–n heterostructures and metal–insulator-semiconductor heterostructures. Some methods to improve device efficiency are also introduced in detail, including the introduction of Ag localized surface plasmons and single-crystalline nanowires into ZnO LEDs/LDs.