Effect of growth temperature on the morphology and phonon properties of InAs nanowires on Si substrates

Tianfeng Li,Yonghai Chen,Tao Yang,Yongzheng Hu,Lijun Wang,Zhanguo Wang,Xiaolong Zhou,Shuai Luo,Wen Lei

doi:10.1186/1556-276x-6-463

Abstract

Catalyst-free, vertical array of InAs nanowires (NWs) are grown on Si (111) substrate using MOCVD technique. The as-grown InAs NWs show a zinc-blende crystal structure along a < 111 > direction. It is found that both the density and length of InAs NWs decrease with increasing growth temperatures, while the diameter increases with increasing growth temperature, suggesting that the catalyst-free growth of InAs NWs is governed by the nucleation kinetics. The longitudinal optical and transverse optical (TO) mode of InAs NWs present a phonon frequency slightly lower than those of InAs bulk materials, which are speculated to be caused by the defects in the NWs. A surface optical mode is also observed for the InAs NWs, which shifts to lower wave-numbers when the diameter of NWs is decreased, in agreement with the theory prediction. The carrier concentration is extracted to be 2.25 × 1017 cm-3 from the Raman line shape analysis. A splitting of TO modes is also observed.PACS: 62.23.Hj; 81.07.Gf; 63.22.Gh; 61.46.Km

Highlights

Semiconductor nanowires (NWs) have been intensively studied in the last decade due to their novel physical properties and potential applications in high-performance devices, such as field-effect transistors, lasers, photodetectors, and photovoltaic devices [1,2,3,4,5]
All InAs NWs are grown along the < 111 > direction, which is perpendicular to Si substrate surface
The few large InAs islands and non-vertical InAs NWs observed in sample A, B, and C can be explained by the reoxidation in the system, which provides nucleation sites and reactant sinks and assist in the growth of larger InAs islands and non-vertical NWs [5,16]

Summary

Introduction

Semiconductor nanowires (NWs) have been intensively studied in the last decade due to their novel physical properties and potential applications in high-performance devices, such as field-effect transistors, lasers, photodetectors, and photovoltaic devices [1,2,3,4,5]. By varying the growth temperature, InAs NWs with different diameters were grown on Si substrates.

Results

Conclusion