Unconventional gallium oxide nanowires

Zigzag and helical beta-Ga(2)O(3) one-dimensional nanostructures were produced by thermal evaporation of gallium oxide in the presence of gallium nitride. High-resolution TEM analysis indicates that each individual zigzag nanostructure has a periodic arrangement of three distinct blocks: two structurally perfect blocks mirrored with respect to each other on the (002) plane, and one stacking-fault-rich block sandwiched between them. In a zigzag nanostructure, the growth orientation of a beta-Ga(2)O(3) crystal changes alternately in three blocks. The zigzag nanostructure as a whole has the [001] axial direction. In addition to zigzag nanostructures, single-crystalline helical nanowires were also obtained.