Epitaxial growth of aligned GaN nanowires and nanobridges

Homo-epitaxialy grown aligned GaN nanowires were prepared on crystalline GaN mesas. The GaN nanowires showed preferential growth along the 〈100〉 direction (m-axis direction). By using selectively positioned and crystallographically well defined GaN epitaxial lateral overgrowth (ELO) mesas as substrate, we obtained horizontally aligned GaN nanowires, in comb-like arrays and hexagonal network interconnecting the ELO mesas. Preliminary testing of the nanomechanical behavior of horizontal nanowires is reported. Combination of ELO with nanowire synthesis is expected to provide a new paradigm for nano-electronic and electromechanical devices.