Direct Evidence of Mg Incorporation Pathway in Vapor-Liquid-Solid Grown p-type Nonpolar GaN Nanowires

TL;DR

This paper provides direct evidence of Mg dopant incorporation pathways in vapor-liquid-solid grown p-type nonpolar GaN nanowires, using advanced spectroscopic and microscopic techniques, and confirms their activation as p-type dopants through optical and electrical measurements.

Contribution

It is the first to directly identify Mg incorporation pathways in VLS-grown GaN nanowires and demonstrates their effective activation as p-type dopants.

Findings

Mg incorporation confirmed by XPS and EELS

Mg pathway identified via EFTEM

Successful p-type doping verified by photoluminescence and electrical tests

Abstract

Doping of III-nitride based compound semiconductor nanowires is still a challenging issue to have a control over the dopant distribution in precise locations of the nanowire optoelectronic devices. Knowledge of the dopant incorporation and its pathways in nanowires for such devices is limited by the growth methods. We report the direct evidence of incorporation pathway for Mg dopants in p-type nonpolar GaN nanowires grown via vapour-liquid-solid (VLS) method in a chemical vapour deposition technique for the first time. Mg incorporation is confirmed using X-ray photoelectron (XPS) and electron energy loss spectroscopic (EELS) measurements. Energy filtered transmission electron microscopic (EFTEM) studies are used for finding the Mg incorporation pathway in the GaN nanowire. Photoluminescence studies on Mg doped GaN nanowires along with the electrical characterization on heterojunction formed between nanowires and n-Si confirm the activation of Mg atoms as p-type dopants in nonpolar GaN nanowires.