Fabrication and optical investigation of a high-density GaN nanowire array

A high-density GaN nanowire array has been successfully fabricated through self-organized nanometer-sized holes as mask appearing in InGaN layer. The self-organized nanometer-sized holes are naturally formed during InGaN epitaxial growth using metalorganic chemical vapor deposition technology by modifying growth parameters. Scanning electron microcopy and atomic force microcopy have been used to characterize them. Optical investigation was carried out by room-temperature photoluminescence, which indicated that strong emission from an n-GaN nanowire array was observed at 367 nm, the near-band edge emission wavelength for n-type GaN. The results show that excellent optical properties of the GaN nanowire array can be obtained, by this technique. It is important to point out that GaN-based nanolaser or nano-light-emitting diodes with different emission wavelengths can be potentially achieved using this technology. (c) 2005 American Institute of Physics.