Controlled Growth of Aluminum Nitride Nanostructures: Aligned Tips, Brushes, and Complex Structures

The aluminum nitride (AlN) nanostructures, including aligned tips, brushes, and complex structures, have been synthesized by a chemical vapor deposition procedure without any catalyst. Both the aspect ratio of the AlN nanotips and the morphologies of the products can be controlled by adjusting the growth temperature, time, and orientation of the substrate. The structure and morphology of the as-synthesized AlN nanostructures are characterized by X-ray diffraction and scanning and transmission electron microscopies. Field emission characterization shows that the turn-on fields for the aligned AlN nanotips grown at 700 and 800 °C are 10.8 and 12.2 V μm -1, respectively.