GaN nanocones field emitters with the selenium doping

The pure and selenium (Se)-doped GaN nanocones were grown via a vapor–liquid–solid (VLS) mechanism with Pt catalysts. The diameter of GaN nanocones gradually decreases from ~500 to ~100 nm along the wire axis,and the tips of GaN nanocones change to thin with sharp ends. The Se-doped GaN nanocones have exhibited impressive field emission properties and high stability with a lower turn-on field of 2.75 V/µm (at room temperature), which is lower than pure GaN nanocones (5.53 V/μm). Consequently, the incorporation of Se impurities can improve the field emission performance of GaN nanocones, which is sufficient for application in field electron emission devices and cold electron sources in display devices. Moreover, the synthesized Se-doped GaN nanocones will facilitate flexible design of device architectures for nanoelectronics.