Gallium nitride nanowires doped with silicon

High-quality GaN nanowires doped with silicon have been synthesized by hot-filament chemical vapor deposition on Au-coated Si (100) wafers. The GaN was systematically characterized by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, and photoluminescence (PL). The GaN nanowires had a uniform concentration of 3% Si, a uniform diameter around 10 nm, and a hexagonal wurtzite structure grown along the [001] direction. The intense PL peak of GaN nanowires at 344 nm showed a distinct blueshift from the bulk bandgap emission, revealing a clear quantum confinement effect. The growth of GaN nanowires is discussed in terms of the oxide-assisted metal-catalyst vapor-liquid-solid model. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.