Vapor-liquid-solid growth route to AlN nanowires on Au-coated Si substrate by direct nitridation of Al powder

In the past several decades vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) growth mechanism has been used for constructing one dimensional (1D) AlN nanostructures though the clear observation of metallic catalyst particles on top of individual 1D nanostructure is rare. Using Au thin film on Si substrate as metallic catalyst, fine AlN nanowires were grown through the nitridation of Al powder in this study. The systematic characterizations including scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) have confirmed the existence of metallic catalyst particles on the top of each AlN nanowire. Therefore the AlN nanowires growth is indeed accomplished via VLS process. The VLS-generated conditions including thickness of Au film and reaction temperature were also explored for the growth of AlN nanowires. Incidentally some other AlN nanostructures such as faceted cross-sectional nanorods, nanobelt and nanocomb were also obtained via vapor-solid growth mechanism on the Si substrate. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.