Electronic and Structural Characteristics of Zinc-Blende Wurtzite Biphasic Homostructure GaN Nanowires

TL;DR

This paper reports the discovery and analysis of a biphasic GaN nanowire structure combining wurtzite and zinc-blende phases, using advanced microscopy and spectroscopy techniques to understand their properties and growth mechanism.

Contribution

It introduces a novel biphasic GaN nanowire structure and provides detailed characterization and growth mechanism insights.

Findings

Identification of distinct wurtzite and zinc-blende phases within single nanowires

Quantitative measurement of phase-specific band gaps using cathodoluminescence

Elucidation of the growth mechanism for biphasic GaN nanowires

Abstract

We report a new biphasic crystalline wurtzite/zinc-blende homostructure in gallium nitride nanowires. Cathodoluminescence was used to quantitatively measure the wurtzite and zinc-blende band gaps. High resolution transmission electron microscopy was used to identify distinct wurtzite and zinc-blende crystalline phases within single nanowires through the use of selected area electron diffraction, electron dispersive spectroscopy, electron energy loss spectroscopy, and fast Fourier transform techniques. A mechanism for growth is identified.