Nano Express
Long-term oxidization and phase transition of InN nanotextures
Author affiliations
1 National Hellenic Research Foundation, Theoretical and Physical Chemistry Institute, 48 Vassileos Constantinou Avenue, Athens 11635, Greece
2 Josef Stefan Institute, Department of Nanostructured Materials, Jamova 39, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Citation and License
Nanoscale Research Letters 2011, 6:387 doi:10.1186/1556-276X-6-387
Published: 16 May 2011Abstract
The long-term (6 months) oxidization of hcp-InN (wurtzite, InN-w) nanostructures (crystalline/amorphous) synthesized on Si [100] substrates is analyzed. The densely packed layers of InN-w nanostructures (5-40 nm) are shown to be oxidized by atmospheric oxygen via the formation of an intermediate amorphous In-Ox-Ny (indium oxynitride) phase to a final bi-phase hcp-InN/bcc-In2O3 nanotexture. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, electron energy loss spectroscopy and selected area electron diffraction are used to identify amorphous In-Ox-Ny oxynitride phase. When the oxidized area exceeds the critical size of 5 nm, the amorphous In-Ox-Ny phase eventually undergoes phase transition via a slow chemical reaction of atomic oxygen with the indium atoms, forming a single bcc In2O3 phase.
