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Updated: Apr 28, 2026
Analysis of Contact Interfaces for Single GaN Nanowire Devices
Published on: November 15, 2013
Evolution and characteristics of GaN nanowires produced via maskless reactive ion etching
Anna Haab1, Martin Mikulics, Eli Sutter
1Peter Grünberg Institut (PGI-9), Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, D-52425 Jülich, Germany. Jülich-Aachen Research Alliance, Fundamentals of Future Information Technology (JARA-FIT), Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, D-52425 Jülich, Germany.
Abstract:
The formation of nanowires (NWs) by reactive ion etching (RIE) of maskless GaN layers was investigated. The morphological, structural and optical characteristics of the NWs were studied and compared to those of the layer they evolve from. It is shown that the NWs are the result of a defect selective etching process. The evolution of density and length with etching time is discussed. Densely packed NWs with a length of more than 1 μm and a diameter of ∼60 nm were obtained by RIE of a ∼2.5 μm thick GaN layer. The NWs are predominantly free of threading dislocations and show an improvement of optical properties compared to their layer counterpart. The production of NWs via a top down process on non-masked group III-nitride layers is assessed to be very promising for photovoltaic applications.
