Optical Properties of Mono-Dispersed AlGaN Nanowires in the Single-Prong Growth Mechanism

TL;DR

This paper reports on the growth and optical characterization of mono-dispersed AlGaN nanowires, revealing insights into their morphology, composition, and crystalline orientation using advanced microscopy and spectroscopy techniques.

Contribution

It introduces a novel understanding of the single-prong growth mechanism and the optical properties of AlGaN nanowires, including polarization effects at sub-diffraction scales.

Findings

Presence of Al confirmed by energy-filtered TEM.

Blue shift in band gap indicates alloy formation.

Crystalline orientation determined via polarized Raman spectroscopy.

Abstract

Growth of mono-dispersed AlGaN nanowires of ternary wurtzite phase is reported using chemical vapour deposition technique in the vapour-liquid-solid process. The role of distribution of Au catalyst nanoparticles on the size and the shape of AlGaN nanowires are discussed. These variations in the morphology of the nanowires are understood invoking Ostwald ripening of Au catalyst nanoparticles at high temperature followed by the effect of single and multi-prong growth mechanism. Energy-filtered transmission electron microscopy is used as an evidence for the presence of Al in the as-prepared samples. A significant blue shift of the band gap, in the absence of quantum confinement effect in the nanowires with diameter about 100 nm, is used as a supportive evidence for the AlGaN alloy formation. Polarized resonance Raman spectroscopy with strong electron-phonon coupling along with optical confinement due to the dielectric contrast of nanowire with respect to that of surrounding media are adopted to understand the crystalline orientation of a single nanowire in the sub-diffraction limit of about 100 nm using 325 nm wavelength, for the first time. The results are compared with the structural analysis using high resolution transmission microscopic study.