GaN nanorods have been successfully prepared on Si(111) substrates by magnetron sputtering through ammoniating Ga2O3/Tb thin films. X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscope (XPS), FT-IR spectrophotometer, scanning electron microscope (SEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM), and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy were used to characterize the microstructures, morphologies compositions and optical properties of the GaN samples. The results demonstrate that the nanorods are single crystal GaN with hexagonal wurtzite structure and high-quality crystalline after ammoniating at 950 degrees C for 15 min, which have the size of 100-150 nm in diameter. Ammoniating temperatures and times affect the growth of GaN nanorods significantly. The growth procedure mainly follows the Tb catalyst-assisted VLS mechanism. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.