Heteroepitaxial growth of GaSb nanotrees with an ultra-low reflectivity in a broad spectral range

We report on the growth of GaSb nanotrees on InAs { ?1 ?1 ?1}(B) substrates by chemical beam epitaxy. GaSb nanotrees form by the nucleation of Ga droplets on the surface of < ?1 ?1 ?1>(B) oriented GaSb nanowires followed by the epitaxial growth of branches catalyzed by these Ga droplets. In the tip region, the trunks of the GaSb nanotrees are periodically twinned, which is attributed to a change of the effective V/III ratio at the later stage of growth as a consequence of the change in surface structure. The reflectivity of a forest of nanotrees was measured for a broad spectral range and compared to the reflectivity of a GaSb ( ?1 ?1 ?1)(B) wafer and of GaSb nanowires. At wavelengths from 500 to 1700 nm, the presence of GaSb nanotrees decreased the reflection by three orders of magnitude compared to a blank GaSb substrate.     

Measurement of Local Si‐Nanowire Growth Kinetics Using In situ Transmission Electron Microscopy of Heated Cantilevers

A technique to study nanowire growth processes on locally heated microcantilevers in situ in a transmission electron microscope has been developed. The in situ observations allow the characterization of the nucleation process of silicon wires, as well as the measurement of growth rates of individual nanowires and the ability to observe the formation of nanowire bridges between separate cantilevers to form a complete nanowire device. How well the nanowires can be nucleated controllably on typical cantilever sidewalls is examined, and the measurements of nanowire growth rates are used to calibrate the cantilever‐heater parameters used in finite‐element models of cantilever heating profiles, useful for optimization of the design of devices requiring local growth.     

Fabrication, structural characterization and photoluminescence of Q-1D semiconductor ZnS hierarchical nanostructures

Quasi-one-dimensional semiconductor ZnS hierarchical nanostructures have been fabricated by thermal evaporation of a mixture of ZnS nanopowders and Sn powders. Sn nanoparticles are located at or close to the tips of the nanowires (or nanoneedles) and served as the catalyst for quasi-one-dimensional ZnS nanostructure growth by a vapour-liquid-solid mechanism. The morphology and microstructure of the ZnS hierarchical nanostructures were measured by scanning electron microscopy and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. The results show that a large number of ZnS nanoneedles were formed on the outer shells of a long and straight ZnS axial nanowire. The ZnS axial nanowires grow along the [001] direction, and ZnS nanoneedles are aligned over the surface of the ZnS nanowire in the radial direction. The room temperature photoluminescence spectrum exhibits a UV weak emission centred at 337?nm and one blue emission centred at 436?nm from the as-synthesized single-crystalline semiconductor ZnS hierarchical nanostructures.     

3D Atomic‐Scale Insights into Anisotropic Core–Shell‐Structured InGaAs Nanowires Grown by Metal–Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition

III–V ternary InGaAs nanowires have great potential for electronic and optoelectronic device applications; however, the 3D structure and chemistry at the atomic‐scale inside the nanowires remain unclear, which hinders tailoring the nanowires for specific applications. Here, atom probe tomography is used in conjunction with a first‐principles simulation to investigate the 3D structure and chemistry of InGaAs nanowires, and reveals i) the nanowires form a spontaneous core–shell structure with a Ga‐enriched core and an In‐enriched shell, due to different growth mechanisms in the axial and lateral directions; ii) the shape of the core evolves from hexagon into Reuleaux triangle and grows larger, which results from In outward and Ga inward interdiffusion occurring at the core–shell interface; and iii) the irregular hexagonal shell manifests an anisotropic growth rate on {112}A and {112}B facets. Accordingly, a model in terms of the core–shell shape and chemistry evolution is proposed, which provides fresh insights into the growth of these nanowires.     

Nanometer-scale modification and welding of silicon and metallic nanowires with a high-intensity electron beam

We demonstrate that a high-intensity electron beam can be applied to create holes, gaps, and other patterns of atomic and nanometer dimensions on a single nanowire, to weld individual nanowires to form metal-metal or metal-semiconductor junctions, and to remove the oxide shell from a crystalline nanowire. In single-crystalline Si nanowires, the beam induces instant local vaporization and local amorphization. In metallic Au, Ag, Cu, and Sn nanowires, the beam induces rapid local surface melting and enhanced surface diffusion, in addition to local vaporization. These studies open up a novel approach for patterning and connecting nanomaterials in devices and circuits at the nanometer scale.     

Influence of nanowire density on the shape and optical properties of ternary InGaAs nanowires

We have synthesized ternary InGaAs nanowires on (111)B GaAs surfaces by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition. Au colloidal nanoparticles were employed to catalyze nanowire growth. We observed the strong influence of nanowire density on nanowire height, tapering, and base shape specific to the nanowires with high In composition. This dependency was attributed to the large difference of diffusion length on (111)B surfaces between In and Ga reaction species, with In being the more mobile species. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy analysis together with high-resolution electron microscopy study of individual InGaAs nanowires shows large In/Ga compositional variation along the nanowire supporting the present diffusion model. Photoluminescence spectra exhibit a red shift with decreasing nanowire density due to the higher degree of In incorporation in more sparsely distributed InGaAs nanowires.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">In situ</Emphasis> TEM observation of dissolution and regrowth dynamics of MoO<Subscript>2</Subscript> nanowires under oxygen

Direct observation of the dissolution behavior of nanomaterials could provide fundamental insight to understanding their anisotropic properties and stability.The dissolution mechanism in solution and vacuum has been well documented.However,the gas-involved dissolution and regrowth have seldom been explored and the mechanisms remain elusive.We report herein,an in situ TEM study of the dissolution and regrowth dynamics of MoO2 nanowires under oxygen using environmental transmission electron microscopy (ETEM).For the first time,oscillatory dissolution on the nanowire tip is revealed,and,intriguingly,simultaneous layer-by-layer regrowth on the sidewall facets is observed,leading to a shorter and wider nanowire.Combined with first-principles calculations,we found that electron beam irradiation caused oxygen loss in the tip facets,which resulted in changing the preferential growth facets and drove the morphology reshaping.     

The effects of Au surface diffusion to formation of Au droplets/clusters and nanowire growth on GaAs substrate using VLS method

Using VLS method with the separated 220 nm thick Au catalyst circles/stripes configurations sputtered onto GaAs substrate surface, this paper investigated the effects of the Au droplets/clusters formation as well as the nanowires growth process inside and outside the Au circles/stripes configurations. The Au surface outward diffusion from the Au layer edge up to several tens of micrometers has strongly dominated. The effects of Au surface diffusion to formation of Au droplets/cluster and to the nanowires growth on GaAs semiconductor substrate in the region outside the Au layers have been shown. The mechanism of the droplets/clusters formation outside the Au layer could explained by the surface cluster diffusion, meanwhile the nanowires have grown simultaneously during the Au outward diffusion. The growth could explain by the diffusion of Ga and As atoms into the diffusing Au droplets/clusters via dissociative mechanism to form nanowire seeds inside for nanowires growth. The Au droplets/clusters formation and nanowires growth on GaAs substrate outside Au layer could be applied for making nanodevices blocks outside the Au layer. Unfortunately if this Au surface diffusion phenomenon is occurring on the GaAs semiconductor containing the Au stripes interconnections in micro/nanocircuits this could also cause the short-circuits phenomenon, even at thin Au layer.     

Au stabilization and coverage of sawtooth facets on Si nanowires grown by vapor-liquid-solid epitaxy

Si nanowires grown in UHV by Au-catalyzed vapor-liquid-solid epitaxy are known to exhibit sidewalls with {112}-type orientation that show faceting. To understand the origin of the faceting, Au induced faceting on Si(112) surfaces was studied in situ by spot-profile-analyzing low-energy electron diffraction. With increasing Au coverage at 750 degrees C, the Si(112) surface undergoes various morphological transformations until, at a critical Au coverage of about 3.1 x 10 (14) atoms/cm (2), a phase consisting of large (111) and (113) facets forms, similar in structure to the nanowire sidewalls. This phase is stable at larger Au coverages in equilibrium with Au droplets. We suggest that Si nanowire surfaces exhibit this structure, and we derive the Au coverage on the two types of facets.     

Temperature conditions for GaAs nanowire formation by Au-assisted molecular beam epitaxy

Molecular beam epitaxial growth of GaAs nanowires using Au particles as a catalyst was investigated. Prior to the growth during annealing, Au alloyed with Ga coming from the GaAs substrate, and melted. Phase transitions of the resulting particles were observed in?situ by reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED). The temperature domain in which GaAs nanowire growth is possible was determined. The lower limit of this domain (320?°C) is close to the observed catalyst solidification temperature. Below this temperature, the catalyst is buried by GaAs growth. Above the higher limit (620?°C), the catalyst segregates on the surface with no significant nanowire formation. Inside this domain, the influence of growth temperature on the nanowire morphology and crystalline structure was investigated in detail by scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The correlation of the nanowire morphology with the RHEED patterns observed during the growth was established. Wurtzite GaAs was found to be the dominant crystal structure of the wires.     

Growth characteristics of GaAs nanowires obtained by selective area metal-organic vapour-phase epitaxy

GaAs nanowires were selectively grown by metal-organic vapour-phase epitaxy within a SiO(2) mask window pattern fabricated on a GaAs(111)B substrate surface. The nanowires were 100-3000?nm in height and 50-300?nm in diameter. The height decreased as the mask window diameter was increased or the growth temperature was increased from 700 to 800?°C. The dependence of the nanowire height on the mask window diameter was compared with a calculation, which indicated that the height was inversely proportional to the mask window diameter. This suggests that the migration of growth species on the nanowire side surface plays a major role. Tetrahedral GaAs grew at an early stage of nanowire growth but became hexagonal as the growth process continued. The calculated change in Gibbs free energy for nucleation growth of the crystals indicated that tetrahedra were energetically more favourable than hexagons. Transmission and scanning electron microscopy analyses of a GaAs nanowire showed that many twins developed along the [Formula: see text] B direction, suggesting that twins had something to do with the evolution of the nanowire shape from tetrahedron to hexagon.     

Three-dimensional morphology of GaP-GaAs nanowires revealed by transmission electron microscopy tomography

We have investigated the morphology of heterostructured GaP-GaAs nanowires grown by metal-organic vapor-phase epitaxy as a function of growth temperature and V/III precursor ratio. The study of heterostructured nanowires with transmission electron microscopy tomography allowed the three-dimensional morphology to be resolved, and discrimination between the effect of axial (core) and radial (shell) growth on the morphology. A temperature- and precursor-dependent structure diagram for the GaP nanowire core morphology and the evolution of the different types of side facets during GaAs and GaP shell growth were constituted.     

Mechanism of self-assembled growth of ordered GaAs nanowire arrays by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy on GaAs vicinal substrates

We report the self-catalyzed growth of GaAs nanowire arrays by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE) on GaAs vicinal substrates. The effect of substrate misorientation on the nanowire growth and the influence of growth parameters such as temperature and input V/III ratio have been studied in detail. Variation in the nanowire growth mechanism and consequential changes in the nanowire growth morphology were observed. A VLS growth mechanism with negligible effect of the vicinal surface gave rise to randomly distributed droplet-terminated GaAs nanowires at 400?°C and multiprong root-grown GaAs nanowire clusters at 500?°C with low V/III ratio. The substrate misorientation effect was dominant at 500?°C with higher V/III ratio, in which case the combined effect of the vicinal surface and the self-catalyzed Ga droplets assisted the realization of self-assembled and crystallographically oriented epitaxial nanowire arrays through the vapor-solid mechanism.     

Control of GaAs nanowire morphology and crystal structure

The morphology and crystal structure of Au-seeded GaAs nanowires (NWs) grown by molecular beam epitaxy were investigated as a function of the temperature, V/III flux ratio, and Ga flux. Low and intermediate growth temperatures of 400 and 500?°C resulted in a strongly tapered morphology, with stacking faults occurring at an average rate of 0.1?nm(-1). NWs with uniform diameter and the occurrence of crystal defects reduced by more than an order of magnitude were achieved at 600?°C, a V/III flux ratio of 2.3, and a Ga impingement rate on the surface of 0.07?nm?s(-1). Comparison of nanowire densities on the various post-growth surfaces suggests a possible incubation time between the moment the Ga shutter is opened and when nanowire growth is initiated. Increasing the flux ratio favored uniform sidewall growth, making the process suitable for the fabrication of core-shell structures.     

Batchwise growth of silica cone patterns via self-assembly of aligned nanowires

Silica-cone patterns self-assembled from well-aligned nanowires are synthesized using gallium droplets as the catalyst and silicon wafers as the silicon source. The cones form a triangular pattern array radially on almost the whole surface of the molten Ga ball. Detailed field-emission scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis shows that the cone-pattern pieces frequently slide off and are detached from the molten Ga ball surface, which leads to the exposure of the catalyst surface and the growth of a new batch of silicon oxide nanowires as well as the cone patterns. The processes of growth and detachment alternate, giving rise to the formation of a volcano-like or a flower-like structure with bulk-quantity pieces of cone patterns piled up around the Ga ball. Consequently, the cone-patterned layer grows batch by batch until the reaction is terminated. Different to the conventional metal-catalyzed growth model, the batch-by-batch growth of the triangular cone patterns proceeds on the molten Ga balls via alternate growth on and detachment from the catalyst surface of the patterns; the Ga droplet can be used continuously and circularly as an effective catalyst for the growth of amorphous SiO(x) nanowires during the whole growth period. The intriguing batchwise growth phenomena may enrich our understanding of the vapour-liquid-solid (VLS) growth mechanism for the catalyst growth of nanowires or other nanostructures and may offer a different way of self-assembling novel silica nanostructures.     

Effect of Thiolated Ligands in Au Nanowire Synthesis

Thiolated ligands are seldom used as morphology‐directing reagent in the synthesis of Au nanostructures due to their low selectivity toward the different facets. Recently, we developed a thiolated ligands‐induced synthesis of nanowires where the selective Au deposition only occurs at the ligand‐deficient Au–substrate interface. Herein, the structural effect of thiolated ligands in this active surface growth is systematically investigated. It is revealed that their ability of rendering surface is closely related to the molecular structure. Ligands with aromatic backbones are capable of inducing nanowire formation, whereas those with aliphatic backbones cannot, likely because the former can pack better at short time scale of the rapid growth. The substituents of the ligands are critical for the colloidal stability of the final structure. It is further demonstrated that aromatic and aliphatic ligands could be mixed to turn on the continual lateral growth, leading to nanowires with tapered ends. The ligand generality in this growth mode also allows the creation of superhydrophobic surface, with the nanowire forest providing the nanoscale surface roughness and the hydrophobic ligand offering the surface property. These applications of the thiolated ligands in the nanosynthesis open a new approach for controlled synthesis of Au‐based nanostructures with various morphologies and properties.     

Preparation and electrical properties of electrospun tin-doped indium oxide nanowires

Well-aligned tin-doped indium (ITO) nanowires have been prepared using the electrospinning process. The Sn doping mechanism and microstructure have been characterized by x-ray diffraction (XRD) and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Devices for I-V measurement and field-effect transistors (FETs) were assembled using ITO nanowires with top contact configurations. The effect of Sn doping on the electrical conductivity was significant in that it enhanced the conductance by over 10(7) times, up to ～1?S?cm(-1) for ITO nanowires with an Sn content of 17.5 at.%. The nanowire FETs were operated in the depletion mode with an electron mobility of up to 0.45?cm(2)?V(-1)?s(-1) and an on/off ratio of 10(3).     

Morphology of self-catalyzed GaN nanowires and chronology of their formation by molecular beam epitaxy

GaN nanowires are synthesized by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy on Si(111) substrates. The strong impact of the cell orientation relative to the substrate on the nanowire morphology is shown. To study the kinetics of growth, thin AlN markers are introduced periodically during NW growth. These markers are observed in single nanowires by transmission electron microscopy, giving access to the chronology of the nanowire formation and to the time evolution of the nanowire morphology. A long delay precedes the beginning of nanowire formation. Then, their elongation proceeds at a constant rate. Later, shells develop on the side-wall facets by ascending growth of layer bunches which first agglomerate at the nanowire foot.     

GaN nanowires: CVD synthesis and properties

The growth of GaN nanowires from Ga and NH₃ sources in the flow of Ar carrier gas using a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) system was systematically studied. The substrates used were Si(111) and Si(100). Fabricated nanowires were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). We investigated the influence of growth temperature, catalyst used, Ga amount, and the ratio of Ar and NH₃ flow rates on the morphology and properties of GaN nanowires. We found that the best results were obtained for a growth temperature of 950 °C. Optimal catalysts were Au and metallic Ni, while the use of nickel nitrate was found to lead to formation of SiO_x nanowire bunches in addition to GaN nanowires. For the optimal temperature and catalyst used, the influence of the Ga to N ratio on the nanowire growth was studied. It was found that different types of nanostructures are observed in relatively Ga-rich and in relatively N-rich conditions. Growth mechanisms of different types of nanowires, including the stacked-cone nanowires and the microscale structures formed by lateral growth under N-rich conditions, are discussed.     

Growth of GaInAs/AlInAs heterostructure nanowires for long-wavelength photon emission

We investigated the growth of GaInAs/AlInAs heterostructure nanowires on InP(111)B and Si(111) substrates in a metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy reactor. Au colloids were used to deposit Au catalysts 20 and 40 nm in diameter on the substrate surfaces. We obtained vertical GaInAs and AlInAs nanowires on InP(111)B surfaces. The GaInAs nanowires capped with GaAs/AlInAs layers show room-temperature photoluminescence. The peak exhibits a blue-shift when the Ga content in the core GaInAs nanowire is increased. For the GaInAs/AlInAs heterostructure growth, it is possible to change the Ga content sharply but Al also exists in the GaInAs layer regions. We also found that the ratios of Ga and Al contents to In content tend to increase and the axial growth rate to decrease along the nanowire toward the top. We were also able to make vertical GaInAs nanowires on Si(111) surfaces after a short growth of GaP and InP.