Measurement of the Electrostatic Edge Effect in Wurtzite GaN Nanowires

Published

November 24, 2014

Author(s)

Alex Henning, Benjamin Klein, Kristine A. Bertness, Paul T. Blanchard, Norman Sanford, Yossi Rosenwaks

Abstract

The electrostatic effect of the hexagonal corner on the electronic structure in wurtzite GaN nanowires (NWs) was directly measured using Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM). By correlating electrostatic simulations with the measured potential difference between the nanowire face and the hexagonal vertices, the surface state concentration and band bending of GaN NWs were estimated. The surface band bending is important for an efficient design of high electron mobility transistors and for optoelectronic devices based on GaN NWs. This methodology provides a way to extract NW parameters without making assumptions concerning the electron affinity. We are taking advantage of electrostatic modeling and the high precision that KPFM offers to elegantly circumvent a major source of uncertainty in determining the surface band bending.

Citation

Applied Physics Letters

Volume

105

Issue

21

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

DOI Link

Keywords

GaN nanowires, scanning Kelvin probe force microscopy, surface band bending

Citation

Henning, A. , Klein, B. , Bertness, K. , Blanchard, P. , Sanford, N. and Rosenwaks, Y. (2014), Measurement of the Electrostatic Edge Effect in Wurtzite GaN Nanowires, Applied Physics Letters, [online], https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4902873 (Accessed October 7, 2025)