Surface energy of monolayer formation during nanowire growth by vapor-liquid-solid mechanism

An exact expression for the effective surface energy of monolayer formation during the growth of a two-dimensional isotropic nanowire according to the vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) mechanism is obtained with allowance for faceting of the crystal side surface. Conditions necessary for the stability of a drop at the top of the growing nanowire and for the preferred nucleation at the triple phase line are theoretically analyzed in various geometries of the lateral L-S boundary. The obtained results correct the inaccuracies of the previous solution of an analogous problem and make it possible to calculate the nucleation barriers that determine the probabilities of formation of various crystalline phases in nanowires of III–V semiconductor compounds.