One dimensional aluminum nitride nanostructures: synthesis, structural, and luminescence properties

Aluminum nitride (AIN) is a direct bandgap semiconductor with a bandgap about 6.1 eV at room temperature, the largest among semiconductors. This paper emphasizes experimental results of the growth and optical properties of AIN nanostructures by direct nitridation. The nitridation process was performed by chemical vapor deposition method with nitrogen (N2) gas flow. AIN nanostructures were analyzed by scanning electron microscope (SEM) equipped with energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscope and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. AIN nanowires with different widths from ultrathin to thick were synthesized with this method. All of the samples had high purity without presence of any other material in EDX spectrum. The PL spectra were obtained by a 325-nm helium-cadmium (He-Cd) laser as the excitation source showing high-intensity light emitting visible wavelengths for these structures at room temperature.