Blue‐violet gallium nitride (GaN) light emittingp‐njunctions were grown by the method of electron cyclotron resonance‐assisted molecular beam epitaxy. This method has been modified to minimize plasma induced defects. Contrary to similar devices grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition, these devices do not require any postgrowth annealing to activate the Mg acceptors in theplayer. These devices turn‐on at approximately 3 V and have a spectral emission peaking at 430 nm. ©1995 American Institute of Physics.