Piezoelectricity in wurtzite polar semiconductor nanowires: A theoretical study

By considering acoustic phonon mode displacements in nanowires, the piezoelectrically induced electric polarization vector and the associated potential are calculated. For the case of charge-free semiconductor nanowires, the piezo energies generated by strains applied in different directions are compared. For the directions considered, it is found that the maximum piezo energy in these nanowires is generated for strain applied in the vertical direction (i.e., along z-axis). Moreover, for these nanowires, energy generation in AlN and ZnO are found to be superior to GaN, just as expected based on past treatments of nanowires using phonons of bulk structures. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics.[doi:10.1063/1.3603036]