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GaN/AlGaN core–shell nanowires with various Al compositions have been grown on GaN nanowire array using selective area metal organic chemical vapor deposition technique. Growth of the AlGaN shell using pure N2carrier gas resulted in a smooth surface for the nonpolar m-plane sidewalls with superior optical properties, whereas, growth using a mixed N2/H2carrier gas resulted in a striated surface similar to the commonly observed morphology in the growth of nonpolar III-nitrides. The Al compositions in the AlGaN shells are found to be less than the gas phase input ratio. The systematic reduction in efficiency of Al incorporation in the AlGaN shells with increasing the Al molar flow in the gas phase is attributed to geometric loss, strain-limited Al incorporation, and increased gas phase parasitic reactions. Defect-related luminescence has been observed for AlGaN shells with Al content ≥ 30% and the origin of the defect luminescence has been determined as the (VIII-2ON)1−complex. Microstructural analysis of the AlGaN shells revealed that the dominant defects are partial dislocations. Growth of the nonpolar m-plane AlxGa1−xN/AlyGa1−yN quantum wells on the sidewalls of the GaN nanowires produced arrays with excellent morphology and optical emission, which demonstrated the viability of such a growth scheme for large area efficient ultraviolet LEDs as well as for next generation ultraviolet micro-LEDs.

Selective area growth of Ga-polar GaN nanowires by metal organic chemical vapor deposition provides a path to achieve arrays of uniform nanowires with controllable dimensions. A systematic investigation on the growth parameters of GaN nanowires demonstrates that although a low V/III ratio and low precursor flows are necessary, V/III ratio is not a sufficient parameter to determine the morphology of GaN nanowires. Partial pressures of the constituent gases, on the other hand, can be used as a single parameter, at a particular growth temperature, to explain the resulting morphology. By correlating the partial pressures of precursors and H2in the carrier gas with the morphology of the nanowires, we can then determine the flow rates for precursors and hence the range of V/III ratios required for achieving the growth of GaN nanowires.

Aluminum nitride was grown on two-dimensional hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) and sapphire substrates using metal organic vapor phase epitaxy. hBN itself was first deposited directly on 2"  sapphire substrates using the same method, which served as templates for AlN growth. For a direct comparison and understanding of the influence of hBN, AlN was grown on both hBN and sapphire, under identical conditions. Growth parameters were varied to study their effect on AlN’s surface morphology and crystallinity. AlN growth on hBN, using a standard two-step process involving a low-temperature nucleation layer resulted in polycrystalline AlN, with a rough morphology. Hence, a modified, multistep high-temperature growth process was utilized for obtaining planar AlN films, with improved crystallinity. AlN films grown on hBN were easily delaminated from the sapphire wafers and showed a relaxation in compressive strain, which was studied using Raman spectroscopy.

High-index III–V semiconductor nanoantennas have gained great attention for enhanced nonlinear light–matter interactions, in the past few years. However, the complexity of nonlinear emission profiles imposes severe constraints on practical applications, such as in optical communications and integrated optoelectronic devices. These complexities include the lack of unidirectional nonlinear emission and the severe challenges in switching between forward and backward emissions, due to the structure of the susceptibility tensor of the III–V nanoantennas. Here, we propose a solution to both issues via engineering the nonlinear tensor of the nanoantennas. The special nonlinear tensorial properties of zinc-blende material can be used to engineer the nonlinear characteristics via growing the nanoantennas along different crystalline orientations. Based on the nonlinear multipolar effect, we have designed and fabricated (110)-grown GaAs nanoantennas, with engineered tensorial properties, embedded in a transparent low-index material. Our technique provides an approach not only for unidirectional second-harmonic generation (SHG) forward or backward emission but also for switching from one to another. Importantly, switching the SHG emission directionality is obtained only by rotating the polarization of the incident light, without the need for physical variation of the antennas or the environment. This characteristic is an advantage, as compared to other nonlinear nanoantennas, including (100)- and (111)-grown III–V counterparts or silicon and germanium nanoantennas. Indeed, (110)-GaAs nanoantennas allow for engineering the nonlinear nanophotonic systems including nonlinear “Huygens metasurfaces” and offer exciting opportunities for various nonlinear nanophotonics technologies, such as nanoscale light routing and light sources, as well as multifunctional flat optical elements.

This study offers an in-depth examination of aluminum gallium arsenide (AlGaAs) as a high-performance and durable material for photoelectrochemical water splitting, a key method of cost-effective renewable hydrogen production. Purpose-designed pin-AlGaAs photocathodes are demonstrated to yield a remarkable photocurrent density of over 15 mA/cm2and an impressive onset potential of 1.11 V vs RHE. These results significantly outperform those achieved with other materials, marking a considerable advancement in the field. Moreover, this work addresses the long-standing issue of AlGaAs corrosion in an aqueous electrolyte. An innovative approach using a 60 nm TiO2protection layer is introduced, providing substantial corrosion resistance in acidic environments and thereby enhancing material durability. This research also provides valuable insights into the role of passivation layers on charge transfer. It was found that an n-GaAs passivation layer further enhances the onset potential, whereas an n-InGaP layer contributes to a decline in the overall performance. These findings pave the way for new applications of AlGaAs in solar water splitting technology, offering a promising pathway toward the development of efficient AlGaAs/Si tandem water splitting devices.

In this study, we investigated the growth behaviors of GaAs nanowires with tetraethyl-tin (Sn) as addition grown at different temperatures in a metal–organic chemical vapor deposition system. It was found that the nanowire axial growth rate can be influenced by the addition of Sn in opposite ways at different growth temperatures. The growth rate of nanowires is higher because of the enhanced decomposition of trimethyl gallium (TMGa) with increasing the Sn addition at 390 °C while lower because of the lower catalyst supersaturation level with increasing the Sn addition at 450 °C. With the Sn addition, nanowire quality can be maintained at 390 °C because the lower temperature benefits stabilizing the structure but further degraded at 450 °C when compared with intrinsic nanowires. This study provides an insight into the effect of the Sn addition on GaAs nanowire growth, which will be useful for the design of nanowire-based devices.

While photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting is a very promising route toward zero-carbon energy, conversion efficiency remains limited. Semiconductors with narrower band gaps can absorb a much greater portion of the solar spectrum, thereby increasing efficiency. However, narrow band gap (∼1 eV) III–V semiconductor photoelectrodes have not yet been thoroughly investigated. In this study, the narrow band gap quaternary III–V alloy InGaAsP is demonstrated for the first time to have great potential for PEC water splitting, with the long-term goal of developing high-efficiency tandem PEC devices. TiO2-coated InGaAsP photocathodes generate a photocurrent density of over 30 mA/cm2with an onset potential of 0.45 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode, yielding an applied bias efficiency of over 7%. This is an excellent performance, given that nearly all power losses can be attributed to reflection losses. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and photoluminescence spectroscopy show that InGaAsP and TiO2form a type-II band alignment, greatly enhancing carrier separation and reducing recombination losses. Beyond water splitting, the tunable band gap of InGaAsP could be of further interest in other areas of photocatalysis, including CO2reduction.

Second-harmonic generation (SHG) in resonant dielectric Mie-scattering nanoparticles has been hailed as a powerful platform for nonlinear light sources. While bulk-SHG is suppressed in elemental semiconductors, for example, silicon and germanium due to their centrosymmetry, the group of zincblende III–V compound semiconductors, especially (100)-grown AlGaAs and GaAs, have recently been presented as promising alternatives. However, major obstacles to push the technology toward practical applications are the limited control over directionality of the SH emission and especially zero forward/backward radiation, resulting from the peculiar nature of the second-order nonlinear susceptibility of this otherwise highly promising group of semiconductors. Furthermore, the generated SH signal for (100)-GaAs nanoparticles depends strongly on the polarization of the pump. In this work, we provide both theoretically and experimentally a solution to these problems by presenting the first SHG nanoantennas made from (111)-GaAs embedded in a low index material. These nanoantennas show superior forward directionality compared to their (100)-counterparts. Most importantly, based on the special symmetry of the crystalline structure, it is possible to manipulate the SHG radiation pattern of the nanoantennas by changing the pump polarization without affecting the linear properties and the total nonlinear conversion efficiency, hence paving the way for efficient and flexible nonlinear beam-shaping devices.

Nanoeutectic phase reaction covers the fundamental study of a chemical and physical reaction of multiple phases at the nanoscale. Here, we report the direct visualization of phase-reaction dynamics in Au/GaAs nanowires (NWs) using four-dimensional (4D) electron microscopy. The NW phase reactions were initiated with a pump laser pulse, while the following dynamics in the Au/GaAs NW was probed by a precisely time-delayed electron pulse. Single-pulse imaging reveals that the cubic zinc-blende NW presents a transient length increase within the time duration of ∼150 ns, giving the appearance of intermediate phase reactions at an early stage. A final length reduction of the NW is observed after the phase reactions have fully ended. In contrast, only length reduction is seen throughout the entire process in GaAs/AlGaAs core–shell and hexagonal wurtzite GaAs NWs. The reasons for the above intriguing phenomena are discussed. The eutectic-related phenomena in both zinc-blende and wurtzite materials offer a comprehensive understanding of phase-reaction dynamics in polytypic structures commonly available in compound semiconductors.

Semiconductor nanowires suffer from significant non-radiative surface recombination; however, heavy p-type doping has proven to be a viable option to increase the radiative recombination rate and, hence, quantum efficiency of emission, allowing the demonstration of room-temperature lasing. Using a large-scale optical technique, we have studied Zn-doped GaAs nanowires to understand and quantify the effect of doping on growth and lasing properties. We measure the non-radiative recombination rate (knr) to be (0.14 ± 0.04) ps–1by modeling the internal quantum efficiency (IQE) as a function of doping level. By applying a correlative method, we identify doping and nanowire length as key controllable parameters determining lasing behavior, with reliable room-temperature lasing occurring for p≳ 3 × 1018cm–3and lengths of ≳4 μm. We report a best-in-class core-only near-infrared nanowire lasing threshold of ∼10 μJ cm–2, and using a data-led filtering step, we present a method to simply identify subsets of nanowires with over 90% lasing yield.