Toward Quantitative Measurements of Piezoelectricity in III-N Semiconductors Nanowires

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that semi-quantitative PFM can accurately measure piezoelectric responses in III-N nanowires, overcoming artifacts present in bulk measurements, and clarifies the true piezoelectric properties of these nanostructures.

Contribution

It introduces a method for reliable PFM measurements on III-N nanowires, revealing that their piezoelectricity is not as large as previously reported, and clarifies measurement artifacts.

Findings

Semi-quantitative PFM is feasible on III-N nanowires.

Clamping and bending effects limit measurements in bulk and thin films.

No giant piezoelectricity observed in 30-80 nm diameter nanowires.

Abstract

Piezoelectric semiconductor III-Nitride nanostructures have received increasing interest as an alternative material for energy harvesters, sensors, and self-sustainable electronics, demanding well-clarification of their piezoelectric behavior. Despite the feasibility of piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM) to resolve piezo-responses at the nanoscale, several difficulties arise when the measurements are performed on low piezo-coefficient materials due to various artifacts. This work shows that semi-quantitative PFM on low piezo-coefficient III-Nitrides can be achieved in high-aspect-ratio nanostructures such as nanowires or nanorods. For conventional bulks and thin films, accurate determination of their piezoresponses is limited because of clamping and bending effects which can occur simultaneously during PFM measurements. While the clamping effect only reduces the piezoresponse amplitude, the bending motion either increases or decreases this amplitude and can also rotate the phase by 180{\deg}. Improved electric field distribution in nanowires minimizes both artifacts, allowing correct determinations of crystal polarities and piezo-coefficients. In contrast to the reports in the literature, we do not observe giant piezoelectricity in III-N nanowires with a diameter in the range of 30-80 nm. This work provides an access to fundamental parameters for developing III-N based piezoelectric nano-devices.