Description

The behavior of gallium nitride, a semiconductor that is well-known for emitting light, in various chemical solutions is reminiscent of Winter trees and branches. In this image, tree branches emerge amongst a field by immersion of the material into chemical solution.

This image was taken by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and is magnified 200 times (the width of the image is roughly 600 micrometers). The image is of the surface of gallium nitride after it is etched in potassium hydroxide. This surface of GaN is selectively etched to produce cone-like features (hexagonal pyramids). The bright areas are dense areas of cones, whereas the darker areas are sparsely filled with cones.