Complications in silane-assisted GaN nanowire growth

Nian Jiang*, Saptarsi Ghosh, Martin Frentrup, Simon M. Fairclough, Kagiso Loeto, Gunnar Kusch, Rachel A. Oliver, Hannah J. Joyce

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

Understanding the growth mechanisms of III-nitride nanowires is of great importance to realise their full potential. We present a systematic study of silane-assisted GaN nanowire growth on c-sapphire substrates by investigating the surface evolution of the sapphire substrates during the high temperature annealing, nitridation and nucleation steps, and the growth of GaN nanowires. The nucleation step - which transforms the AlN layer formed during the nitridation step to AlGaN - is critical for subsequent silane-assisted GaN nanowire growth. Both Ga-polar and N-polar GaN nanowires were grown with N-polar nanowires growing much faster than the Ga-polar nanowires. On the top surface of the N-polar GaN nanowires protuberance structures were found, which relates to the presence of Ga-polar domains within the nanowires. Detailed morphology studies revealed ring-like features concentric with the protuberance structures, indicating energetically favourable nucleation sites at inversion domain boundaries. Cathodoluminescence studies showed quenching of emission intensity at the protuberance structures, but the impact is limited to the protuberance structure area only and does not extend to the surrounding areas. Hence it should minimally affect the performance of devices whose functions are based on radial heterostructures, suggesting that radial heterostructures remain a promising device structure.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2610-2620
Number of pages11
JournalNanoscale Advances
Volume5
Issue number9
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 20 Apr 2023

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