A practical route towards fabricating GaN nanowire arrays

Abstract

GaN nanowire (NW) arrays have been fabricated by the electrodeless photoelectrochemical (PEC) etching method for the first time. Under appropriate conditions, the etching process is just a dislocation-hunted process, in which the etching solution “digs down” along the threading dislocations, resulting in the formation of GaN NWs by preferentially etching away the defective parts of GaN with dislocations and retaining the flawless parts. The NWs have a density of 1∼2 × 107 cm−2, diameters ranging from 150 nm to 500 nm, and corresponding lengths ranging from 10 μm to 20 μm. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) indicates that these GaN NWs possess few dislocations. High resolution X-ray diffraction (HRXRD) and micro-Raman measurements show that these GaN NWs are stress-free. Room temperature cathodoluminescence (CL) measurements show a single near-band-edge emission at 367 nm with a full width at half maximum (FWHM) of 8 nm from the NWs, indicating a high optical quality. Additionally, negative piezoelectric current pluses are generated from the GaN NWs when the conductive atomic force microscope is scanned cross the arrays in contact mode. Such GaN NW arrays are promising building blocks for exploring nanodevices with excellent performance.