No abstract

The growth mode and structural and optical properties of novel type of inclined GaN nanowires (NWs) grown by plasma-assisted MBE on Si(001) substrate were investigated. We show that due to a specific nucleation mechanism the NWs grow epitaxially on the Si substrate without any Si(x)N(y) interlayer, first in the form of zinc-blende islands and then as double wurtzite GaN nanorods with Ga-polarity. X-ray measurements show that orientation of these nanowires is epitaxially linked to the symmetry of the substrate so that [0001] axis of w-GaN nanowire is directed along the [111]Si axis. This is different from commonly observed behavior of self-induced GaN NWs that are N-polar and grow perpendicularly to the surface of nitridized silicon substrate independently on its orientation. The inclined NWs exhibit bright luminescence of bulk donor-bound excitons (D(0)X) at 3.472 eV and exciton-related peak at 3.46 eV having a long lifetime (0.7 ns at 4 K) and observable up to 50 K.

In this work we present analysis of carriers dynamics in samples of GaN nanowires grown on silicon. The samples exhibit bright luminescence of bulk donor-bound excitons at 3.472 eV, surface defect-bound excitons at 3.450 eV (SDX) and a broad (0.05 eV) band centered at 3.47 eV caused probably by single free exciton and bi-exciton recombination. The SDX emission has long lifetime τ = 0.6 ns at 4 K and can be observed up to 50 K.At higher temperatures luminescence is dominated by free excitons. The broad excitonic band is best visible under high excitation, and reveals fast, non-exponential dynamics. We present mathematical model assuming excitonexciton interaction leading to the Auger processes. The model includes n 2 (Langevin) term and describes well the non-exponential dynamics of the excitonic band.