Kinetics of Guided Growth of Horizontal GaN Nanowires on Flat and Faceted Sapphire Surfaces

The bottom-up assembly of nanowires facilitates the control of their dimensions, structure, orientation and physical properties. Surface-guided growth of planar nanowires has been shown to enable their assembly and alignment on substrates during growth, thus eliminating the need for additional post-growth processes. However, accurate control and understanding of the growth of the planar nanowires were achieved only recently, and only for ZnSe and ZnS nanowires. Here, we study the growth kinetics of surface-guided planar GaN nanowires on flat and faceted sapphire surfaces, based on the previous growth model. The data are fully consistent with the same model, presenting two limiting regimes—either the Gibbs–Thomson effect controlling the growth of the thinner nanowires or surface diffusion controlling the growth of thicker ones. The results are qualitatively compared with other semiconductors surface-guided planar nanowires materials, demonstrating the generality of the growth mechanism. The rational approach enabled by this general model provides better control of the nanowire (NW) dimensions and expands the range of materials systems and possible application of NW-based devices in nanotechnology.