Controlled epitaxy of room-temperature quantum emitters in gallium nitride

The ability to generate quantum light at room temperature on a mature semiconductor platform opens up new possibilities for quantum technologies. Heteroepitaxial growth of gallium nitride on silicon substrates offers the opportunity to leverage existing expertise and wafer-scale manufacturing to integrate bright quantum emitters (QEs) in this material within cavities, diodes, and photonic circuits. Until now, it has only been possible to grow GaN QEs at uncontrolled depths on sapphire substrates, which is disadvantageous for potential device architectures. Here, we report a method to produce GaN QEs by metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy at a controlled depth in the crystal through the application of silane treatment and subsequent growth of 3D islands. We demonstrate this process on highly technologically relevant silicon substrates, producing room-temperature QEs with a high Debye–Waller factor and strongly anti-bunched emission.