Abstract
The morphologies and microstructures of kinked InP nanowires (NWs) prepared by solid-source chemical vapor deposition method were examined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). Statistical analysis and structural characterization reveal that four different kinds of kinks are dominant in the grown InP NWs with a bending angle of approximately 70°, 90°, 110°, and 170°, respectively. The formation mechanisms of these kinks are discussed. Specifically, the existence of kinks with bending angles of approximately 70° and 110° are mainly attributed to the occurrence of stacking faults and nanotwins in the NWs, which could easily form by the glide of {111} planes, while approximately 90° kinks result from the local amorphorization of InP NWs. Also, approximately 170° kinks are mainly caused by small-angle boundaries, where the insertion of extra atomic planes could make the NWs slightly bent. In addition, multiple kinks with various angles are also observed. Importantly, all these results are beneficial to understand the formation mechanisms of kinks in compound semiconductor NWs, which could guide the design of nanostructured materials, morphologies, microstructures, and/or enhanced mechanical properties.
Highlights
III-V compound semiconductor nanowires (NWs), especially InP NWs, have attracted enormous attention in next-generation electronics, sensors, photonics, and solar cells due to their superior carrier mobilities and as direct and suitable bandgaps for efficient photon coupling [1,2,3,4,5,6]
To the best of our knowledge, few reports are relevant to the kinked InP NWs, the detailed microstructures related to the bending configuration
In order to systematically understand the characteristics of the different kinks, initially, a comprehensive statistical analysis was carried out using typical bright field (BF) transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images (Figure 1c), which are mainly concentrated in the range of 20 to 30 nm
Summary
III-V compound semiconductor nanowires (NWs), especially InP NWs, have attracted enormous attention in next-generation electronics, sensors, photonics, and solar cells due to their superior carrier mobilities and as direct and suitable bandgaps for efficient photon coupling [1,2,3,4,5,6]. It is believed that the kinks in the NWs would influence their transport properties, electron, and hole collection efficiencies for technological applications [12,13]. In this regard, a detailed study on the formation of these kinks is extremely important, In our experiment, kinked InP NWs frequently emerged in the growing process, which possess a crystal structure of face-centered cubic (zinc blende) [6]. In order to understand the growth mechanism of these bending InP NWs, the morphologies and microstructures of different InP NWs were studied utilizing scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and high-resolution transmission electronic microscopy (HRTEM), respectively. NWs with multiple curves composed of different bending angles are observed
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