Nano Research

, Volume 7, Issue 11, pp 1640–1649 | Cite as

Structure and quality controlled growth of InAs nanowires through catalyst engineering

  • Zhi Zhang
  • Zhenyu Lu
  • Hongyi Xu
  • Pingping Chen
  • Wei Lu
  • Jin Zou
Research Article
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Abstract

In this study, the structure and quality controlled growth of InAs nanowires using Au catalysts in a molecular beam epitaxy reactor is presented. By tuning the indium concentration in the catalyst, defect-free wurtzite structure and defect-free zinc blende structure InAs nanowires can be induced. It is found that these defect-free zinc blende structure InAs nanowires grow along \(\left\langle {\bar 1\bar 10} \right\rangle \) directions with four low-energy {111} and two {110} side-wall facets and adopt the \(\left( {\bar 1\bar 1\bar 1} \right)\) catalyst/nanowire interface. Our structural and chemical characterization and calculations identify the existence of a catalyst supersaturation threshold for the InAs nanowire growth. When the In concentration in the catalyst is sufficiently high, defect-free zinc blende structure InAs nanowires can be induced. This study provides an insight into the manipulation of crystal structure and structure quality of III–V semiconductor nanowires through catalyst engineering.

Keywords

structure quality InAs nanowires molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) Au catalysts 
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Copyright information

© Tsinghua University Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014

Authors and Affiliations

  • Zhi Zhang
    • 1
  • Zhenyu Lu
    • 2
  • Hongyi Xu
    • 1
  • Pingping Chen
    • 2
  • Wei Lu
    • 2
  • Jin Zou
    • 1
    • 3
  1. 1.Materials EngineeringThe University of QueenslandSt. LuciaAustralia
  2. 2.National Laboratory for Infrared Physics, Shanghai Institute of Technical PhysicsChinese Academy of SciencesShanghaiChina
  3. 3.Centre for Microscopy and MicroanalysisThe University of QueenslandSt. LuciaAustralia

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