TY - JOUR

T1 - Geometrical Selection of GaN Nanowires Grown by Plasma-Assisted MBE on Polycrystalline ZrN Layers

AU - Olszewski, Karol

AU - Sobanska, Marta

AU - Dubrovskii, Vladimir G.

AU - Leshchenko, Egor D.

AU - Wierzbicka, Aleksandra

AU - Zytkiewicz, Zbigniew R.

PY - 2023/9/19

Y1 - 2023/9/19

N2 - GaN nanowires grown on metal substrates have attracted increasing interest for a wide range of applications. Herein, we report GaN nanowires grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy on thin polycrystalline ZrN buffer layers, sputtered onto Si(111) substrates. The nanowire orientation was studied by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy, and then described within a model as a function of the Ga beam angle, nanowire tilt angle, and substrate rotation. We show that vertically aligned nanowires grow faster than inclined nanowires, which leads to an interesting effect of geometrical selection of the nanowire orientation in the directional molecular beam epitaxy technique. After a given growth time, this effect depends on the nanowire surface density. At low density, the nanowires continue to grow with random orientations as nucleated. At high density, the effect of preferential growth induced by the unidirectional supply of the material in MBE starts to dominate. Faster growing nanowires with smaller tilt angles shadow more inclined nanowires that grow slower. This helps to obtain more regular ensembles of vertically oriented GaN nanowires despite their random position induced by the metallic grains at nucleation. The obtained dense ensembles of vertically aligned GaN nanowires on ZrN/Si(111) surfaces are highly relevant for device applications. Importantly, our results are not specific for GaN nanowires on ZrN buffers, and should be relevant for any nanowires that are epitaxially linked to the randomly oriented surface grains in the directional molecular beam epitaxy.

AB - GaN nanowires grown on metal substrates have attracted increasing interest for a wide range of applications. Herein, we report GaN nanowires grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy on thin polycrystalline ZrN buffer layers, sputtered onto Si(111) substrates. The nanowire orientation was studied by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy, and then described within a model as a function of the Ga beam angle, nanowire tilt angle, and substrate rotation. We show that vertically aligned nanowires grow faster than inclined nanowires, which leads to an interesting effect of geometrical selection of the nanowire orientation in the directional molecular beam epitaxy technique. After a given growth time, this effect depends on the nanowire surface density. At low density, the nanowires continue to grow with random orientations as nucleated. At high density, the effect of preferential growth induced by the unidirectional supply of the material in MBE starts to dominate. Faster growing nanowires with smaller tilt angles shadow more inclined nanowires that grow slower. This helps to obtain more regular ensembles of vertically oriented GaN nanowires despite their random position induced by the metallic grains at nucleation. The obtained dense ensembles of vertically aligned GaN nanowires on ZrN/Si(111) surfaces are highly relevant for device applications. Importantly, our results are not specific for GaN nanowires on ZrN buffers, and should be relevant for any nanowires that are epitaxially linked to the randomly oriented surface grains in the directional molecular beam epitaxy.

KW - GaN nanowires

KW - ZrN buffer layers

KW - geometrical selection

KW - molecular beam epitaxy

KW - nanowire orientation

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/1c6a585c-fb10-35b5-b6d2-193f94029170/

U2 - 10.3390/nano13182587

DO - 10.3390/nano13182587

M3 - Article

C2 - 37764616

VL - 13

JO - Nanomaterials

JF - Nanomaterials

SN - 2079-4991

IS - 18

M1 - 2587

ER -