Surface Charge: An Advantage for the Piezoelectric Properties of GaN Nanowires

Abstract

The optimization of the new generation of piezoelectric nanogenerators based on 1D nanostructures requires a fundamental understanding of the different physical mechanisms at play, especially those that become predominant at the nanoscale regime. One such phenomenon is the surface charge effect (SCE), which is very pronounced in GaN NWs with sub-100 nm diameters. With an advanced nano-characterization tool derived from AFM, the influence of SCE on the piezo generation capacity of GaN NWs is investigated by modifying their immediate environment. As-grown GaN NWs are analysed and compared to their post-treated counterparts featuring an Al2O3 shell. We establish that the output voltages systematically decrease by the Al2O3 shell. This phenomenon is directly related to the decrease of the surface trap density in the presence of Al2O3 and the corresponding reduction of the surface Fermi level pinning. This leads to a stronger screening of the piezoelectric charges by the free carriers. These experimental results demonstrate and confirm that the piezo-conversion capacity of GaN NWs is favoured by the presence of the surface charges.