Electrical performance of gallium nitride nanocolumns

The electrical characterization of gallium nitride (GaN) nanocolumns with a length up to 1 μm and a diameter of about 30–80 nm grown on doped silicon is a challenge for nano analytics. To determine the conductivity of these nanocolumns, I–V characteristics were recorded by atomic force microscopy (AFM). To measure the conductivity of a single nanocolumn, a conductive AFM tip was placed at the top of the nanocolumn. The measured current/voltage characteristic of a single nanocolumn shows the typical performance of a Schottky contact, which is caused by the contact between the metallic AFM tip and the semiconductor material of the nanocolumn. The height of the Schottky barrier is dependent on the work function of the AFM tip metal used. The linear part of the curve was used to calculate the differential resistance, which was found to be about 13 Ω cm and slightly dependent on the diameter.