Epitaxial Growth of GaN Nanowires with High Structural Perfection on a Metallic TiN Film

Vertical GaN nanowires are grown in a self-induced way on a sputtered Ti film by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. Both in situ electron diffraction and ex situ ellipsometry show that Ti is converted to TiN upon exposure of the surface to the N plasma. In addition, the ellipsometric data demonstrate this TiN film to be metallic. The diffraction data evidence that the GaN nanowires have a strict epitaxial relationship to this film. Photoluminescence spectroscopy of the GaN nanowires shows excitonic transitions virtually identical in spectral position, line width, and decay time to those of state-of-the-art GaN nanowires grown on Si. Therefore, the crystalline quality of the GaN nanowires grown on metallic TiN and on Si is equivalent. The freedom to employ metallic substrates for the epitaxial growth of semiconductor nanowires in high structural quality may enable novel applications that benefit from the associated high thermal and electrical conductivity as well as optical reflectivity.