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

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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.

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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.

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Author notes

  1. Mark Nicolas Lockrey

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

  2. Philippe Caroff

    Present address: Present address: Microsoft Quantum Lab Delft, Lorentzweg 1, CJ Delft, 2628, Netherlands

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electronic Materials Engineering, Research School of Physics, The Australian National University, Canberra, 0200, ACT, Australia

    Bijun Zhao, Naiyin Wang, Philippe Caroff, Jennifer Wong-Leung, Hark Hoe Tan & Chennupati Jagadish

  2. Australian National Fabrication Facility, Research School of Physics, The Australian National University, Canberra, 0200, ACT, Australia

    Mark Nicolas Lockrey & Li Li

  3. Hunan Key Laboratory for Supermicrostructure and Ultrafast Process, School of Physics and Electronics, Central South University, 932 South Lushan Road, Changsha, 410083, China

    Xiaoming Yuan

  4. ARC Centre of Excellence for Transformative Meta-Optical Systems, Research School of Physics, The Australian National University, Canberra, 0200, ACT, Australia

    Hark Hoe Tan & Chennupati Jagadish

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  1. Bijun Zhao
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Zhao, B., Lockrey, M.N., Wang, N. et al. Highly regular rosette-shaped cathodoluminescence in GaN self-assembled nanodisks and nanorods. Nano Res. 13, 2500–2505 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-020-2886-6

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