Passivation efficacy study of Al2O3 dielectric on self-catalyzed molecular beam epitaxially grown GaAs1-x Sb x nanowires

Abstract

This work evaluates the passivation efficacy of thermal atomic layer deposited (ALD) Al2O3 dielectric layer on self-catalyzed GaAs1-x Sb x nanowires (NWs) grown using molecular beam epitaxy. A detailed assessment of surface chemical composition and optical properties of Al2O3 passivated NWs with and without prior sulfur treatment were studied and compared to as-grown samples using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Raman spectroscopy, and low-temperature photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. The XPS measurements reveal that prior sulfur treatment followed by Al2O3 ALD deposition abates III–V native oxides from the NW surface. However, the degradation in 4K-PL intensity by an order of magnitude observed for NWs with Al2O3 shell layer compared to the as-grown NWs, irrespective of prior sulfur treatment, suggests the formation of defect states at the NW/dielectric interface contributing to non-radiative recombination centers. This is corroborated by the Raman spectral broadening of LO and TO Raman modes, increased background scattering, and redshift observed for Al2O3 deposited NWs relative to the as-grown. Thus, our work seems to indicate the unsuitability of ALD deposited Al2O3 as a passivation layer for GaAsSb NWs.