Photoluminescence Redistribution of InGaN Nanowires Induced by Plasmonic Silver Nanoparticles.

Hybrid nanostructures based on InGaN nanowires with decorated plasmonic silver nanoparticles are investigated in the present study. It is shown that plasmonic nanoparticles induce the redistribution of room temperature photoluminescence between short-wavelength and long-wavelength peaks of InGaN nanowires. It is defined that short-wavelength maxima decreased by 20%, whereas the long-wavelength maxima increased by 19%. We attribute this phenomenon to the energy transfer and enhancement between the coalesced part of the NWs with 10-13% In content and the tips above with an In content of about 20-23%. A proposed Fröhlich resonance model for silver NPs surrounded by a medium with refractive index of 2.45 and spread 0.1 explains the enhancement effect, whereas the decreasing of the short-wavelength peak is associated with the diffusion of charge carriers between the coalesced part of the NWs and the tips above.

Selective Area Epitaxy of GaN Nanowires on Si Substrates Using Microsphere Lithography: Experiment and Theory.

GaN nanowires were grown using selective area plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy on SiOx/Si(111) substrates patterned with microsphere lithography. For the first time, the temperature-Ga/N2 flux ratio map was established for selective area epitaxy of GaN nanowires. It is shown that the growth selectivity for GaN nanowires without any parasitic growth on a silica mask can be obtained in a relatively narrow range of substrate temperatures and Ga/N2 flux ratios. A model was developed that explains the selective growth range, which appeared to be highly sensitive to the growth temperature and Ga flux, as well as to the radius and pitch of the patterned pinholes. High crystal quality in the GaN nanowires was confirmed through low-temperature photoluminescence measurements.

Multi-colour light emission from InGaN nanowires monolithically grown on Si substrate by MBE.

InGaN nanostructures are among the most promising candidates for visible solid-state lighting and renewable energy sources. To date, there is still a lack of information about the influence of the growth conditions on the physical properties of these nanostructures. Here, we extend the study of InGaN nanowires growth directly on Si substrates by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. The results of the study showed that under appropriate growth conditions a change in the growth temperature of just 10 °C leads to a significant change in the structural and optical properties of the nanowires. InGaN nanowires with the areas containing 4%-10% of In with increasing tendency towards the top are formed at the growth temperature of 665 °C, while at the growth temperatures range of 655 °C-660 °C the spontaneously core-shell NWs are typically presented. In the latter case, the In contents in the core and the shell are about an order of magnitude different (e.g. 35% and 4% for 655 °C, respectively). The photoluminescence study of the NWs demonstrates a shift in the spectra from blue to orange in accordance with an increase of In content. Based on these results, a novel approach to the monolithic growth of InxGa1-xN NWs with multi-colour light emission on Si substrates by setting a temperature gradient over the substrate surface is proposed.

Influence of TOPO and TOPO-CdSe/ZnS Quantum Dots on Luminescence Photodynamics of InP/InAsP/InPHeterostructure Nanowires.

The passivation influence by ligands coverage with trioctylphosphine oxide (TOPO) and TOPO including colloidal CdSe/ZnS quantum dots (QDs) on optical properties of the semiconductor heterostructure, namely an array of InP nanowires (NWs) with InAsP nanoinsertion grown by Au-assisted molecular beam epitaxy on Si (111) substrates, was investigated. A significant dependence of the photoluminescence (PL) dynamics of the InAsP insertions on the ligand type was shown, which was associated with the changes in the excitation translation channels in the heterostructure. This change was caused by a different interaction of the ligand shells with the surface of InP NWs, which led to the formation of different interfacial low-energy states at the NW-ligand boundary, such as surface-localized antibonding orbitals and hybridized states that were energetically close to the radiating state and participate in the transfer of excitation. It was shown that the quenching of excited states associated with the capture of excitation to interfacial low-energy traps was compensated by the increasing role of the "reverse transfer" mechanism. As a result, the effectiveness of TOPO-CdSe/ZnS QDs as a novel surface passivation coating was demonstrated.