Growth of single-crystalline wurtzite aluminum nitride nanotips with a self-selective apex angle

Single-crystal line, hexagonal aluminum nitride nanotips are fabricated using a vapor-transport and condensation process (VTCP) on silicon substrates with or without a catalyst layer. The resultant tips have very sharp nanoscale apexes (similar to 1 nm), while their bases and lengths are up to hundreds of nanometers wide and several micrometers long, respectively. It has been demonstrated that the thickness of the gold-catalyst layer plays a critical role in controlling the size of the tip; in addition, a catalyst-free growth mode has been observed, which results in lesser control over the nanotip morphology. Nevertheless, a remarkably narrow distribution of the apex angle of the nanotips, regardless of whether or not a catalyst was used in the VTCP, has been obtained. Compared with the commonly observed ridge and pyramid structures, the nanotips produced by VTCP have higher angles (similar to 81 degrees) between the tilted (221) and the basal (001) planes that encase it. A mechanism for this self-selective apex angle in aluminum nitride nanotip growth is proposed.