We report on the fabrications and characterizations of axial and radial Ga As nanowire pn junction diode arrays.The nanowires are grown on n-doped Ga As（111）B substrates using the Au-catalyzed vapor–liquid–solid mechanism by metal–organic chemical vapor deposition（MOCVD）. Diethyl–zinc and silane are used as p- and n-type dopant precursors,respectively. Both the axial and radial diodes exhibit diode-like J–V characteristics and have similar performances under forward bias. Under backward bias, the axial diode has a large leakage current, which is attributed to the bending of the pn junction interface induced by two doping mechanisms in Au-catalyzed nanowires. The low leakage current and high rectification ratio make the radial diode more promising in electrical and optoelectronic devices.
