US Patent 8138493 - Nanooptoelectronic semiconductor device

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/8138493.html

This patent from QuNano teaches the formation of nanostructured materials for increasing the efficiency of LEDs in the infrared to green wavelength region. Claim 1 reads:

1. An optoelectronic semiconductor device comprising at least one semiconductor nanowire, wherein:

the nanowire comprises a nanowire core and a shell layer arranged around at least a portion of the nanowire core; and

the nanowire core and the shell layer form a pn or pin junction that in operation provides an active region for carrier generation or carrier recombination;

the active region comprises quantum dots adapted to act as carrier recombination centres or carrier generation centres.