Growth of gold-palladium alloy catalyzed gallium nitride nanowires by chemical vapour deposition

The growth of gallium nitride nanowires on c-plane sapphire substrates using binary catalytic alloy was investigated by manipulating growth time and precursor-to-substrate distance. The variations in structural, optical and morphological behaviour of the samples at different growth conditions were observed using X-ray diffractometer, cathodoluminescence spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. It was noticed that, thickness of the nanowires decreased with increase in growth time and precursor-to-substrate distance. Simultaneously, length of the nanowires increased with growth time and varied with precursor-to-substrate distance. The reduction in nanowire thickness was found to have a positive effect in improving luminescence property and bandgap of the grown nanowires. The results indicate that this material system can be catered for optoelectronic device applications.