A light emitting device includes a silicon substrate having a (100) upper surface. The (100) upper surface has a recess, the recess being defined in part by (111) surfaces of the silicon substrate. The light emitting device includes a GaN crystal structure over one of the (111) surfaces which has a non-polar plane and a first surface along the non-polar plane. Light emission layers over the first surface have at least one quantum well comprising GaN.