Nonpolar Facets Research Articles

Nucleation and growth of GaN nanorods on Si (111) surfaces by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy - The influence of Si- and Mg-doping

The self-assembled growth of GaN nanorods on Si (111) substrates by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy under nitrogen-rich conditions is investigated. An amorphous silicon nitride layer is formed in the initial stage of growth that prevents the formation of a GaN wetting layer. The nucleation time was found to be strongly influenced by the substrate temperature and was more than 30 min for the applied growth conditions. The observed tapering and reduced length of silicon-doped nanorods is explained by enhanced nucleation on nonpolar facets and proves Ga-adatom diffusion on nanorod sidewalls as one contribution to the axial growth. The presence of Mg leads to an increased radial growth rate with a simultaneous decrease of the nanorod length and reduces the nucleation time for high Mg concentrations.

Hydrothermal synthesis of ZnO nanorod arrays with the addition of polyethyleneimine

ZnO nanorod arrays were synthesized on glass substrates coated by a ZnO seeding layer via a hydrothermal technique by adding polyethyleneimine (PEI) to the growth solution. The XRD and SEM results show that the ZnO nanorods have the single crystal wurtzite structure with the (0 0 2) direction normal to the substrates. In 50 ml growth solution of 0.05 M zinc salts, the average diameter of the nanorods was reduced drastically from 300 nm to 40 nm with the PEI amount increasing from 0 ml to 6 ml. The diameter distribution and the polycrystalline layer at the bottom of the nanorods were improved. Longer nanorods were obtained by prolonging the growth time. Based on the results, possible mechanisms that PEI adsorbs on the non-polar facets of ZnO nanorods and its coordination to zinc ions were proposed to elucidate the effect of PEI on reducing the diameters and improving the morphologies of nanorods.

Expanding horizons for nitride devices & materials

Improvements in III-nitride technology continue apace in both opto- and microelectronic device performance as well as in lifetimes and stability, with 2005 being no exception. Similar improvements are occurring in parallel in their related fields of application, while the work of Shuji Nakamura and colleagues at UCSB on non-polar and semi-polar GaN facets merits separate coverage and could allow LEDs to leap ahead in efficiency into new markets.

First-Principles Modeling of Unpassivated and Surfactant-Passivated Bulk Facets of Wurtzite CdSe: A Model System for Studying the Anisotropic Growth of CdSe Nanocrystals

Equilibrium geometries, surface energies, and surfactant binding energies are calculated for selected bulk facets of wurtzite CdSe with a first-principles approach. Passivation of the surface Cd atoms with alkyl phosphonic acids or amines lowers the surface energy of all facets, except for the polar 000 facet. On the nonpolar facets, the most stable configuration corresponds to full coverage of surface Cd atoms with surfactants, while on the polar 0001 facet it corresponds only to a partial coverage. In addition, the passivated surface energies of the nonpolar facets are in general lower than the passivated polar 0001 facet. Therefore, the polar facets are less stable and less efficiently passivated than the nonpolar facets, and this can rationalize the observed anisotropic growth mechanism of wurtzite nanocrystals in the presence of suitable surfactants.