Mask-less MOVPE of arrayed n-GaN nanowires on site- and polarity-controlled AlN/Si templates

Abstract

We present a novel approach to attain Ga-polar n-GaN nanowires on n-Si(111)/AlN templates, by site- and polarity-controlled metal organic vapor phase epitaxy. A three-stage process is developed to (i) form equally-sized Ga-polar GaN islands, (ii) change the growth direction towards the vertical direction and finally, to (iii) obtain continuous nanowire epitaxy. Homogeneous islands are achieved by minimizing parasitic nucleation and adjusting the adatom diffusion length to the used nanoimprint pattern. The influence of the carrier gas composition on the polarity is studied, achieving pure Ga-polarity by mostly using nitrogen carrier gas. Enhancing the Si/Ga-ratio leads to an amplification of the vertical growth, but also to a reduced number of NWs. 100% growth is attained by a height dependent V/III-ratio adjustment. The results are supported by a qualitative model, explaining how suppression of multi-pod, parasitic and inhomogeneous crystallization can be realized by trading off in situ SiN_x passivation and localized GaN growth.