Growth and morphology of 0.80 eV photoemitting indium nitride nanowires

InN nanowires with high efficiency photoluminescence emission at 0.80 eV are reported for the first time. InN nanowires were synthesized via a vapor solid growth mechanism from high purity indium metal and ammonia. The products consist of only hexagonal wurtzite phase InN. Scanning electron microscopy showed wires with diameters of 50-100nm and having fairly smooth morphologies. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy revealed high quality, single crystal InN nanowires which grew in the <0001> direction. The group-III nitrides have become an extremely important technological material over the past decade. They are commonly used in optoelectronic devices, such as high brightness light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and low wavelength laser diodes (LDs), as well as high power/high frequency electronic devices. Recently InN thin films grown by MOCVD and MBE were found to have a bandgap energy in the range of 0.7-0.9 eV, much lower than the value of {approx}1.9 eV found for InN films grown by sputtering. This large decrease in the direct bandgap transition energy and the ability to form ternary (InGaN) and quaternary (AlInGaN) alloys increases the versatility of group-III nitride optoelectronic devices, ranging from the near IR to the UV. Additionally, InN has some promising transport and electronic properties. It has the smallest effective electron mass of all the group-III nitrides which leads to high mobility and high saturation velocity10 and a large drift velocity at room temperature. As a result of these unique properties, there has been a large increase in interest in InN for potential use in optoelectronic devices, such as LDs and high efficiency solar cells, as well as high frequency/high power electronic devices