VLS growth of GaN nanowires on various substrates

Abstract We have studied the vapour–liquid–solid (VLS) growth of free-standing GaN wires on various III–V substrates using metalorganic vapour phase epitaxy. The low-temperature deposition including in situ droplet formation was investigated applying 1.1-dimethylhydrazine and trimethylgallium. In particular, the surface structure of BP and GaN intermediate layers on the growth of GaN wires is discussed. Furthermore, the GaN growth was examined with a special focus on the influence of triethylboron on the droplet formation and wire growth. Additionally, the Au-initiated VLS growth on c -plane Al 2 O 3 is reported, where NH 3 and triethylgallium have been used at usual growth conditions. Depending on the growth conditions used, the wires have hexagonal (h-GaN) wurtzite or cubic (c-GaN) zinc blende structure. The resulting nanowire diameters range from 50 to 300 nm and they are up to 2 μm in length.