Synthesis, characterization, photoluminescence and field emission properties of novel durian-like gallium nitride microstructures

Durian-like gallium nitride (GaN) microstructures were successfully synthesized on Si substrate by pre-treating Ga metal with aqueous NH3 via catalyst assisted chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method at 1200 °C. The as-synthesized product was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). XRD and EDX analysis revealed that durian-like GaN is pure and single phase. SEM results showed that the size of the durian-like GaN structures was 20–25 μm. GaN microstructures exhibited reasonable field emission properties with the turn-on field of 8.24 V μm−1 (0.01 mA cm−2) and threshold field of 10.18 V μm−1 (1 mA cm−2) which is sufficient for applications of electron emission devices, field emission displays and vacuum micro-electronic devices. Photoluminescence (PL) properties of durian-like GaN studied at room temperature showed a strong near-band-edge emission at 369.4 nm (3.36 eV) whereas at low temperature it showed near-band-edge emission at 364.2 nm (3.4 eV) without yellow band emissions. The photoluminescence properties showed that it has also potential application in light-emitting devices.

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► Durian-like GaN with size of 20–25 μm have been synthesized by CVD method.
► FE properties show turn-on field of 8.24 V μm−1 and threshold field of 10.18 V μm−1.
► This turn-on field value is enough for potential use in electron emission devices.
► Strong PL emission peak at 369.4 nm show its vast applications in LEDs and devices.
► Low temperature (77 K) PL showed strong emission peak at 364.2 nm.