A novel erbium chloride seeded growth process was developed for the growth and fabrication of erbium doped GaN nanocrystals. This erbium chloride seeded technique simplifies the delivery of erbium into a metal organic chemical vapor deposition system. Additionally, this selective growth of the GaN nanocrystal only occurred in the presence of the ErCl(3) seed. Strong green emission, distinctive of the Er(3+) ion, was observed in the GaN nanocrystals. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V All rights reserved.