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Nano Research 2020, 13(9): 2500-2505 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-020-2886-6
Research Article | Issue | Published: 22 June 2020

Highly regular rosette-shaped cathodoluminescence in GaN self-assembled nanodisks and nanorods

Show Author's Information Bijun Zhao1( ),  Mark Nicolas Lockrey2,†,  Naiyin Wang1,  Philippe Caroff1,‡,  Xiaoming Yuan3,  Li Li2,  Jennifer Wong-Leung1,  Hark Hoe Tan1,4,  Chennupati Jagadish1,4( )
Department of Electronic Materials Engineering, Research School of Physics, The Australian National University, Canberra 0200, ACT, Australia
Australian National Fabrication Facility, Research School of Physics, The Australian National University, Canberra 0200, ACT, Australia
Hunan Key Laboratory for Supermicrostructure and Ultrafast Process, School of Physics and Electronics, Central South University, 932 South Lushan Road, Changsha 410083, China
ARC Centre of Excellence for Transformative Meta-Optical Systems, Research School of Physics, The Australian National University, Canberra 0200, ACT, Australia

† Present address: Microstructural Analysis Unit, University of Technology Sydney, PO Box 123, Broadway, Sydney 2007, NSW, Australia

Keywords:
cathodoluminescence, metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), GaN nanorod, yellow luminescence, non-radiative recombination
Topics:
CarbonIIIMetallorganic chemical vapor depositionNanorodsOrganic chemicalsOrganometallicsQuantum opticsSecondary ion mass spectrometryV semiconductors
Cite this article:
Zhao B, Lockrey MN, Wang N, et al. Highly regular rosette-shaped cathodoluminescence in GaN self-assembled nanodisks and nanorods. Nano Research, 2020, 13(9): 2500-2505. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-020-2886-6
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Abstract Full text Electronic supplementary material About this article

Self-assembled GaN nanorods were grown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition. A highly regular rosette-shaped cathodoluminescence pattern in the GaN nanorods is observed, where its origin is helpful to deepen the understanding of GaN nanorod growth. The pattern forms at the very early stages of nanorod growth, which consists of yellow luminescence at the edges and the non-luminous region at six vertices of the hexagon. To clarify its origin, we carried out detailed cathodoluminescence studies, electron microscopy studies and nanoscale secondary ion mass spectrometry at both the nanorod surface and cross-section. We found the pattern is not related to optical resonance modes or polarity inversion, which are commonly reported in GaN nanostructures. After chemical composition and strain analysis, we found higher carbon and nitrogen cluster concentration and large compressive strain at the pattern area. The pattern formation may relate to facet preferential distribution of non-radiative recombination centers related to excess carbon/nitrogen. This work provides an insight into strain distribution and defect-related emission in GaN nanorod, which is critical for future optoelectronic applications.


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Electronic supplementary material
About this article

Highly regular rosette-shaped cathodoluminescence in GaN self-assembled nanodisks and nanorods

Show Author's information Bijun Zhao1( ), Mark Nicolas Lockrey2,†, Naiyin Wang1, Philippe Caroff1,‡, Xiaoming Yuan3, Li Li2, Jennifer Wong-Leung1, Hark Hoe Tan1,4, Chennupati Jagadish1,4( )
Department of Electronic Materials Engineering, Research School of Physics, The Australian National University, Canberra 0200, ACT, Australia
Australian National Fabrication Facility, Research School of Physics, The Australian National University, Canberra 0200, ACT, Australia
Hunan Key Laboratory for Supermicrostructure and Ultrafast Process, School of Physics and Electronics, Central South University, 932 South Lushan Road, Changsha 410083, China
ARC Centre of Excellence for Transformative Meta-Optical Systems, Research School of Physics, The Australian National University, Canberra 0200, ACT, Australia

† Present address: Microstructural Analysis Unit, University of Technology Sydney, PO Box 123, Broadway, Sydney 2007, NSW, Australia

Abstract

Self-assembled GaN nanorods were grown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition. A highly regular rosette-shaped cathodoluminescence pattern in the GaN nanorods is observed, where its origin is helpful to deepen the understanding of GaN nanorod growth. The pattern forms at the very early stages of nanorod growth, which consists of yellow luminescence at the edges and the non-luminous region at six vertices of the hexagon. To clarify its origin, we carried out detailed cathodoluminescence studies, electron microscopy studies and nanoscale secondary ion mass spectrometry at both the nanorod surface and cross-section. We found the pattern is not related to optical resonance modes or polarity inversion, which are commonly reported in GaN nanostructures. After chemical composition and strain analysis, we found higher carbon and nitrogen cluster concentration and large compressive strain at the pattern area. The pattern formation may relate to facet preferential distribution of non-radiative recombination centers related to excess carbon/nitrogen. This work provides an insight into strain distribution and defect-related emission in GaN nanorod, which is critical for future optoelectronic applications.

Keywords: cathodoluminescence, metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), GaN nanorod, yellow luminescence, non-radiative recombination

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Publication history
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Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 20 February 2020
Revised: 13 May 2020
Accepted: 17 May 2020
Published: 22 June 2020
Issue date: September 2020

Copyright

© Tsinghua University Press and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020

Acknowledgements

The Australian Research Council is acknowledged for its financial support. Access to the facilities is made possible through the Australian National Fabrication Facility, Australian Capital Territory Node. The authors also acknowledge the assistance of Dr Gilberto Casillas Garcia at the Electron Microscopy Centre at the University of Wollongong and Paul Guagliardo at Centre for Microscopy, Characterisation and Analysis at the University of Western Australia. B. J. Z. would like to thank for Dr Xiangyuan Cui at the University of Sydney for helpful discussion on the GaN related defects. B. J. Z. would like to thank the China Scholarship Council and the Australia National University for her scholarship support. X. Y. thanks the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 61974166 and 51702368) for financial support. We would like to thank Dr. Xu Zhang from Zhengzhou University for helpful discussion on some of the strain aspects in this work.

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