On the polarity of GaN micro- and nanowires epitaxially grown on sapphire (0001) and Si(111) substrates by metal organic vapor phase epitaxy and ammonia-molecular beam epitaxy

The polarity of GaN micro- and nanowires grown epitaxially by metal organic vapor phase epitaxy on sapphire substrates and by molecular-beam epitaxy, using ammonia as a nitrogen source, on sapphire and silicon substrates has been investigated. On Al2O3(0001), whatever the growth technique employed, the GaN wires show a mixture of Ga and N polarities. On Si(111), the wires grown by ammonia-molecular beam epitaxy are almost entirely Ga-polar (around 90%) and do not show inversion domains. These results can be understood in terms of the growth conditions employed during the nucleation stage.