Piezotronic AlGaN nanowire Schottky junctions grown on a metal substrate
Type
ArticleAuthors
Almaghrabi, Latifah
Huang, Chen
Priante, Davide

Tian, Meng
Min, Jung-Wook
Zhao, Chao

Zhang, Huafan

Subedi, Ram Chandra

Alhashim, Hala H.
Sun, Haiding

Ng, Tien Khee

Ooi, Boon S.

KAUST Department
Computer, Electrical and Mathematical Sciences and Engineering (CEMSE) DivisionElectrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering Program
Imaging and Characterization Core Lab
Photonics Laboratory
Physical Characterization
KAUST Grant Number
BAS/1/1614-01-01C/M-20000-12-001-77
Date
2020-05-11Online Publication Date
2020-05-11Print Publication Date
2020-05-01Submitted Date
2020-03-18Permanent link to this record
http://hdl.handle.net/10754/662809
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
The non-centrosymmetric crystal structures of polar-semiconductors comprising GaN, InN, AlN, and ZnO intrigued the scientific community in investigating their potential for a strain-induced nano-energy generation. The coupled semiconducting and piezoelectric properties produce a piezo-potential that modulates the charge transport across their heterostructure interfaces. By using conductive-atomic force microscopy, we investigate the mechanism that gives rise to the piezotronic effect in AlGaN nanowires (NWs) grown on a molybdenum (Mo) substrate. By applying external bias and force on the NWs/Mo structure using a Pt–Ir probe, the charge transport across the two adjoining Schottky junctions is modulated due to the change in the apparent Schottky barrier heights (SBHs) that result from the strain-induced piezo-potential. We measured an increase in the SBH of 98.12 meV with respect to the background force, which corresponds to an SBH variation $\textstyle\frac{\partial\phi}{\partial F}$ of 6.24 meV/nN for the semiconductor/Ti/Mo interface. The SBH modulation, which is responsible for the piezotronic effect, is further studied by measuring the temperature-dependent I–V curves from room temperature to 398 K. The insights gained from the unique structure of AlGaN NWs/Mo shed light on the electronic properties of the metal-semiconductor interfaces, as well as on the potential application of AlGaN NW piezoelectric nanomaterials in optoelectronics, sensors, and energy generation applications.Citation
Al-Maghrabi, L., Huang, C., Priante, D., Tian, M., Min, J.-W., Zhao, C., … Ooi, B. S. (2020). Piezotronic AlGaN nanowire Schottky junctions grown on a metal substrate. AIP Advances, 10(5), 055014. doi:10.1063/5.0008112Sponsors
We acknowledge the financial support from the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) under Grant No. KACST TIC R2-FP-008. This work was partially supported by the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) baseline Funding No. BAS/1/1614-01-01, MBE equipment Funding Nos. C/M-20000-12-001-77 and KCR/1/4055-01-01, the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No. 61905236, the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) under Grant No. KY2100000081, the USTC National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory Grant No. KY2100000099.Publisher
AIP PublishingJournal
AIP AdvancesAdditional Links
http://aip.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/5.0008112ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1063/5.0008112
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