Quaternary Chemical Potentials for Gold-Catalyzed Growth of Ternary InGaAs Nanowires

Abstract

Chemical potentials of quaternary liquid alloys are required for theoretical description of the composition and crystal structure of Au-catalyzed ternary III–V nanowires. However, such data are solely missing in the literature. Herein, we use a thermodynamic database for the quaternary Au–In–Ga–As system that has been developed using the CALPHAD (CALculation of PHAse Diagram) method. We present the chemical potential values in Au–In–Ga–As liquid with respect to InGaAs solid. We plot the chemical potentials as functions of the arsenic concentration, indium composition, total composition of the group III elements, and temperature. Our approach can be extended to other material systems and used for particular calculations based on macroscopic nucleation theory. Quantitative data on quaternary chemical potentials obtained here constitute the first step toward comprehensive understanding of growth, composition, and structural evolution of Au-catalyzed InGaAs nanowires.