Spontaneous growth of GaN nanowire nuclei on N- and Al-polar AlN: A piezoresponse force microscopy study of crystallographic polarity

The polarity of gallium nitride (GaN) nanowire nuclei grown on AlN layers was studied by piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM). N- or Al-polar AlN layers were grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) on Si (111) substrates by use of Al- or N-rich growth conditions, respectively. Short and low density GaN nanowires were then grown on each AlN polarity type. PFM measurements verified the expected AlN layer polarity and further indicated that predominantly N-polar nanowires are produced for growth on both AlN polarity types. Cross-section scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) images further reveal that the nanowires on Al-polar AlN films are nucleated on regions in the AlN layer that contain inversion domains, which propagate into the GaN nanowire nuclei. PFM measurements were found to be a convenient technique for mapping the polarity of a statistically significant number of individual GaN nanowires.