Crystal Growth of Cubic and Hexagonal GaN Bulk Alloys and Their Thermal-Vacuum-Evaporated Nano-Thin Films

Abstract

In this study, we investigate a novel simple methodology to synthesize gallium nitride nanoparticles (GaN) that could be used as an active layer in light-emitting diode (LED) devices by combining the crystal growth technique with thermal vacuum evaporation. The characterizations of structural and optical properties are carried out with different techniques to investigate the main featured properties of GaN bulk alloys and their thin films. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) delivered images in bulk structures that show micro rods with an average diameter of 0.98 µm, while their thin films show regular microspheres with diameter ranging from 0.13 µm to 0.22 µm. X-ray diffraction (XRD) of the bulk crystals reveals a combination of 20% hexagonal and 80% cubic structure, and in thin films, it shows the orientation of the hexagonal phase. For HRTEM, these microspheres are composed of nanoparticles of GaN with diameter of 8–10 nm. For the optical behavior, a band gap of about from 2.33 to 3.1 eV is observed in both cases as alloy and thin film, respectively. This article highlights the fabrication of the major cubic structure of GaN bulk alloy with its thin films of high electron lifetime.