Preparation and Characterization of Mg-Doped GaN Nanowires by Au-Catalyzed Magnetron Sputtering Deposition

Abstract

Mg-doped GaN nanowires have been successfully synthesized on Si (111) substrates by magnetron sputtering deposition through ammoniating Ga2O3/Au thin films at 900 °C for 15 min. X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and photoluminescence (PL) spectrum were carried out to characterize microstructure, morphology, and optical property of GaN sample. The results demonstrate that the nanowires are single-crystal Mg-doped GaN with hexagonal wurtzite structure and high crystalline quality, which have the size of 40 nm in diameter and several tens of microns in length and good emission property. The growth procedure mainly follows the VLS mechanism, and Au plays an important role as catalyst, and more defect energy is formed due to metallic Au and thus promote the growth of GaN nanowires.