Single‐crystalline, hexagonal aluminum nitride nanotips are fabricated using a vapor‐transport and condensation process (VTCP) on silicon substrates with or without a catalyst layer. The resultant tips have very sharp nanoscale apexes (∼1 nm), while their bases and lengths are up to hundreds of nanometers wide and several micrometers long, respectively. It has been demonstrated that the thickness of the gold‐catalyst layer plays a critical role in controlling the size of the tip; in addition, a catalyst‐free growth mode has been observed, which results in lesser control over the nanotip morphology. Nevertheless, a remarkably narrow distribution of the apex angle of the nanotips, regardless of whether or not a catalyst was used in the VTCP, has been obtained. Compared with the commonly observed ridge and pyramid structures, the nanotips produced by VTCP have higher angles (∼81°) between the tilted (221) and the basal (001) planes that encase it. A mechanism for this self‐selective apex angle in aluminum nitride nanotip growth is proposed.

The optical properties of aluminum nitride nanotips (AlNNTs) synthesized via vapor transport and condensation process have been studied by cathodoluminescence, photoluminescence (PL), thermoluminescence (TL), and UV absorption measurements. Two defect related transitions around 2.1 and 3.4eV and an excitonic feature at 6.2eV were identified. Compared to the AlN macropowders, the AlNNTs showed a blueshift (+0.2eV) of the ∼3.2eV peak. Analysis of both PL and TL excitation measurements indicated the existence of subband gap multiple energy levels in AlNNTs. A significant TL intensity even at 145°C suggests possible ultraviolet detector and dosimetric applications of these AlNNTs.

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We report the field emission properties of the quasi-aligned aluminum nitride (AlN) nanotips grown on differently doped (p+, p, n+, and n type) silicon (Si) substrates by thermal chemical vapor deposition. The AlN nanotips were 10nm at the apex, 100nm at the bottom, and 1200nm in length. The AlN nanotips grown on p+-Si substrate showed the lowest turn-on field of 6V∕μm (highest current density of 0.22A∕cm2 at a field of 10V∕μm), whereas no significant emission could be obtained using n+- and n-Si substrates. Band diagrams of the Si–AlN heterojunction have been used to explain the phenomenon. A 5% variation of the applied field was observed while drawing a current density of 100μA∕cm2 from the nanotips grown on p+-Si substrates.

The results of photoluminescence (PL), detection-energy-dependent photoluminescence excitation (DEDPLE), excitation-energy-dependent photoluminescence (EEDPL), and strain state analysis (SSA) of three InGaN/GaN quantum-well (QW) samples with silicon doping in the well, barrier and an undoped structure are compared. The SSA images show strongly clustering nanostructures in the barrier-doped sample and relatively weaker composition fluctuations in the undoped and well-doped samples. Differences in silicon doping between the samples give rise to the differences in DEDPLE and EEDPL spectra, as a result of the differences in carrier localization. In addition, the PL results provide us clues for speculating that the S-shaped PL peak position behavior is dominated by the quantum-confined Stark effect in an undoped InGaN/GaN QW structure.

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