Synthesis of oxygen-free nanosized InN by pulse discharge

Oxygen-free nanosized InN was synthesized by pulse discharge. NH₃/N₂ mixture and bulk indium were used as nitrogen source and discharge cathode, respectively. Optical emission spectra show that N₂ and NH₃ were highly dissociated in the discharge and oxygen could be eliminated effectively. A comparison was made between samples produced in the discharge of N₂, NH₃ and N₂/NH₃, respectively. XPS was used to determine the composition of the synthesized materials. Only In-N was produced when N₂/NH₃ was used as the discharge gas, whereas indium oxide was found in the case using N₂ or NH₃ as the discharge gas. The size of the produced InN was between 5 and 200 nm. A broad band with a blue shift of 150 nm from that of bulk InN was detected in the photoluminescence of the produced nanosized InN.