Considerable advances in materials science are expected via the use of selected or designed peptides to recognize material, control their growth, or to assemble them into elaborate novel devices. Identifying specific peptides for a number of technologically useful materials has been the challenge of many research groups in recent years. This can be accomplished by using affinity-based bio-panning methods such as phage display technologies. In this work, a combinatorial library including billions of clones of genetically engineered M13 bacteriophage was used to select peptides that could recognize improved indium nitride (InN) semiconductor (SC) material. Several rounds of biopanning were necessary to select the phage with the higher affinity from the low variant library. The DNA of this specific phage was extracted and sequenced to set up the related specific adherent peptide. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is used to demonstrate the real affinity of a selected phage for the InN surface. Due to the possibility of its functionalization with biomolecules and its important physical properties, InN is a promising candidate for developing affinity-based optical and electrical biosensors and/or for biomimetic applications. Copyright (C) 2010 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

We have investigated the heteroepitaxy of indium nitride (InN) directly grown on nitridated sapphire substrates having different orientations. Growths were performed on C, A, M and R-plane oriented sapphire in order to analyse the substrate orientation effect on the structural, optical and electronic properties of as-grown InN. Atomic force microscopy imaging on the InN epilayers revealed different surface morphologies with crystallites well organized along a crystalline orientation of the layer. We have studied the structural anisotropy observed in these layers analysing high-resolution X-ray diffraction rocking curve experiments as a function of the in-plane beam orientation. A-plane oriented InN grown on R-plane sapphire substrate shows a polarized photoluminescence anisotropy, with an anisotropy percentage of about 33%. (C) 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim

In this work we present a comprehensive study on the hydrogen impurities, free electron, and structural properties of MOVPE InN films with state-of-the-art quality. We find a correlation between the decrease of free electron concentration and the reduction of bulk hydrogen in the films upon thermal annealing, while no changes in the dislocation densities and strain are observed. Our results suggest that hydrogen is a major source for the unintentional n-type doping in MOVPE InN. (C) 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim

The development of high brightness LEDs is being studied worldwide due to the expectation to replace present light sources because of the higher efficiency and estimated lifetime. The deposition of the epitaxial layers is the most critical step of the LED manufacturing process and has to be carried-out in well controlled conditions to get the necessary uniformity of the epitaxial layers and the proper cleanliness. The most common technology to grow the epitaxial layers is MOVPE, a technology that requires a large quantity of gas to transport the precursors into the process reactor. Control of the cleanliness of the gases used during the process (hydrogen, ammonia, arsine, etc) is necessary to obtain highly efficient and reproducible devices. However, even the use of the cleanest gas source cannot avoid the introduction of impurities when the gas is used in the process reactor. In fact there are several causes that can degrade the actual purity level: the degree of emptiness of the source cylinder, improper procedures during the change out of the cylinder or outgassing from the components in the gas distribution system. These effects can be even worse in research centers where the gas consumption is low and not continuous. A common way to get rid of the above mentioned problems is the adoption of point of use purifiers. Results showing the improvements in the gas quality by adopting point of use purifiers will be presented and discussed. The differences between some widely used hydrogen purification technologies in the compound semiconductor applications will also be evaluated. (C) 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim