InAs Nanowire Arrays Research Articles

Inverse-designed multi-diameter InAs nanowire array ultra-broadband photodetectors enhanced by localized surface plasmon resonances

Multi-diameter InAs nanowire array ultra-broadband photodetectors are inversely designed and further enhanced by localized surface plasmon resonances. The nanowire diameters are carefully selected by the particle swarm optimization algorithm within the range of 100-800 nm. The multi-diameter nanowire array exhibits high absorption over 80% within a broadband wavelength range of 0.5-3.42 µm, much wider and flatter than that of the single-diameter counterpart, which is attibuted to the superposition of multiple absorption peaks as well as the extension of absorption to longer wavelengths. By introducing indium tin oxide nanoparticles onto the nanowire surface, the lowest absorption is further raised to 87% within a broad wavelength range of 0.55-3.5 µm due to the localized surface plasmon resonances, and the dark current density is substantially reduced from 214 mA/cm2 to 83 mA/cm2 due to the large depletion region. This work may pave the way for the development of ultra-broadband high-responsivity infrared photodetectors.

InAs nanowire arrays for room-temperature ultra-broadband infrared photodetection.

Detection of short-wave infrared (SWIR) and mid-wave infrared (MWIR) emissions remains challenging despite their importance in many emerging applications, including night vision, space imaging and remote sensing. III-V compound semiconductor materials such as InAs have an ideal band gap covering a spectral regime from near-infrared (NIR), SWIR to MWIR. However, due to their high dark current, InAs photodetectors normally require a low-temperature operation, which has greatly limited their practical applications. Here, we report the engineering of InAs nanowire arrays to achieve efficient photodetection of light at wavelengths ranging from NIR to MWIR (3500 nm). By using selective area metal-organic vapour-phase epitaxy, we optimise the nanowire growth temperature and V/III ratio to achieve wurtzite (WZ)-based InAs nanowire arrays with a high WZ density of ∼67%. Due to the n-type background doping of the InAs nanowires and the p-type InAs substrate used for nanowire growth, a p-n junction is formed, and an ultrawide room-temperature photoresponse ranging from 500 to 3500 nm is obtained under zero bias. It is found that the waveguide modes supported by the InAs nanowires result in a high peak responsivity of 0.44 A W-1 and a detectivity of 1.25 × 1010 cm √Hz W-1 at a wavelength of 1600 nm, a bias voltage of only -0.1 V and a relatively high operating temperature of 150 K. Such a strong light trapping effect in the InAs nanowires also leads to significantly lower reflection compared to that observed in planar photodetectors, and thus strong absorption in the substrate extending the photoresponse up to the InAs bandgap edge of 3500 nm. Our work shows that through careful material optimisation and device design, InAs nanowire arrays are promising for the development of high-performance ultra-broadband infrared photodetectors for wavelengths ranging from NIR, SWIR to MWIR.

Localized Self-Assembly of InAs Nanowire Arrays on Reusable Si Substrates for Substrate-Free Optoelectronics

Localized Self-Assembly of InAs Nanowire Arrays on Reusable Si Substrates for Substrate-Free Optoelectronics

Selective Area Growth by Hydride Vapor Phase Epitaxy and Optical Properties of InAs Nanowire Arrays

Selective Area Growth by Hydride Vapor Phase Epitaxy and Optical Properties of InAs Nanowire Arrays

Analysis and design of InAs nanowire array based ultra broadband perfect absorber.

An ultra-broadband perfect absorber has a wide range of applications which include solar energy harvesting, imaging, photodetection etc. In this regard, InAs nanowire (NW) based structure is investigated in this work for achieving an ultra broadband perfect absorber. Finite difference time domain (FDTD) based numerical analysis has been performed to optimize the InAs nanowire based structure to obtain an efficient light absorber by varying different dimensional parameters. Mie theory and guided mode resonance based theoretical analysis is developed to validate the results and to get an insight into the tunability of the nanowire based structure. Moreover, the theoretical analysis elucidates the underlying physics of light absorption in nanowires. To achieve ultra broadband absorption, multi radii InAs nanowire based arrays are investigated and it is found that they exhibit superior performance compared to single radius NW based structures. The computed light absorption efficiency (LAE) and short circuit current density values are enhanced to 97% and 40.15 mA cm−2 at 10° angle of incidence for the optimized quad radii NW array within the wavelength range of 300 nm to 1000 nm and 300 nm to 1200 nm, respectively. Moreover, the absorption spectra for these structures are polarization independent and exhibit robust performance for varying angle of incidence. In addition, arrangement of the NW array (hexagonal or square) has negligible effect on the absorption spectra. Such ultra-broadband absorption capability of the proposed structure compared to existing works suggests that the InAs nanowire based structure is very promising as light absorber with prospects in the fields of photo detection, solar power generation, perfect cloaking, photochemistry and other thin film photonic devices.

High-efficiency ultrafast optical-to-electrical converters based on InAs nanowire-plasmonic arrays.

There has been a growing interest in developing high-efficiency ultrafast optical-to-electrical converters for advanced imaging and sensing applications. Here, we propose a three-dimensional (3D) plasmonic platform based on InAs nanowire arrays with self-assembled gold gratings, which converts a telecom-wavelength (1550nm) optical beam to sub-picosecond current pulses with quantum efficiency up to 18.3%, while operating in photovoltaic mode, i.e., at zero bias. Using a comprehensive 3D photoresponse model, we reveal that the incident photons form tightly confined fields near the gratings at nanowire tips, and thus a majority of the photogenerated carriers are efficiently routed to the metal within a few tens of nanometers distance, resulting in ultrafast current pulses. In addition, we show that the amplitude of current pulses is robust to the nanowire surface quality and can be effectively tuned by varying the doping levels in nanowires. This work paves a way to realizing a low-power, highly compact, and low-cost device scheme for ultrafast pulse generation.

Improving pseudo-van der Waals epitaxy of self-assembled InAs nanowires on graphene via MOCVD parameter space mapping

Self-assembly of InAs nanowire arrays with highest reported aspect ratios and number density by van der Waals epitaxy on graphene is presented.

(Invited) The Scaling-Down and Performance Optimization of InAs Nanowire Field Effect Transistors

Due to their fascinating properties, InAs nanowires have drawn great attention for the channel material in future transistors. Scaling-down has been an effective way to improve the performance of transistors continuously for decades. Here, we review our recent progresses on InAs nanowire field effect transistors (FETs) when they are scaled down. Our group investigates the electrical characteristics of InAs nanowire thinner than 10 nm. Both the size-effect and the contact properties of ultrathin nanowires are explored. Moreover, the effects of InAs crystal phase and orientation are studied for further optimizing the device performance. In addition, FETs with partial gate are studied to suppress the BTBT-induced off-current. Furthermore, to improve the electrostatics control of the gate, our group develops a method to fabricate vertical GAA FETs with all-metal electrodes based on self-catalyzed grown InAs nanowire arrays.

Effect of nanohole size on selective area growth of InAs nanowire arrays on Si substrates

We have investigated the influence of nanohole size on selective-area growth (SAG) of InAs nanowire (NW) arrays on Si(111) substrates by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition. The growth of well-defined and position-controlled InAs NW arrays with united vertical orientation can be achieved on the patterned substrates with a certain range of nanohole size, which paves the way for the fabrication of high-electron-mobility and surrounding-gate transistor arrays using NWs as channels. Moreover, it is found that more than one NW are increasingly likely grown per nanohole as the nanohole size increases, and the NWs become increasingly thin and short. This is considered to be due to the supersaturation of adsorbed species in the nanohole and the intense competition for adatoms among multiple NWs per nanohole.

Wavelength-selective absorptance in GaAs, InP and InAs nanowire arrays

The absorptance in vertical nanowire (nw) arrays is a result of three optical phenomena: radial mode resonances, near-field evanescent wave coupling, and Fabry–Perot (F–P) modes. The contribution of these optical phenomena to GaAs, InP and InAs nw absorptance was simulated using the finite element method. The study compared the absorptance between finite and semi-infinite nw lengths with varying geometrical parameters, including the nw diameter, length and array period. Simulation results showed that the resonance peak wavelength of the HE11 and HE12 radial modes linearly red-shifted with increasing nw diameter. The absorptance and spectral width of the resonance peaks increased as the nw length increased, with an absorptance plateau for very long nws that depended on diameter and period. Near-field coupling between neighboring nws was observed to increase with decreasing period. The effect of F–P modes was more pronounced for shorter nws, with a significant enhancement of HE12 over HE11 absorptance. Engineering of nw arrays to take advantage of these optical phenomena for multi-spectral photodetector applications is discussed.

Nanoscale opening fabrication on Si (111) surface from SiO2 barrier for vertical growth of III-V nanowire arrays

We reported here a selectively additive process to fabricate nanoscale openings of an Si (111) surface from an SiO2 barrier layer. Such nanoscale openings are made for the growth of vertical III–V nanowires. The Si (111) surface protected by a patterned SiNx layer was thermally oxidized, which resulted in a selectively added SiO2 barrier layer. After removing the SiNx, nanoscale openings of the Si (111) surface were exposed for the nanowire growth. Arrays with patterned nanoholes of varied diameters from 60 nm to 334 nm have been used for position-controlled catalyst-free growth of vertical InAs nanowire arrays by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition. Correlations between the nanohole diameter and the diameter, length and growth yield of as-fabricated nanowire arrays have been investigated, showing a repeatable stability. This technique offers an alternative approach for the fabrication of novel III–V nanowire devices using vertical array configuration. A lateral thermal oxidation effect led to a smaller size of the Si opening than that of the SiNx protection nanoislands; therefore, the technique also offers a controllable way to produce nanoholes with an ultra-small diameter.

Short-wavelength infrared photodetector on Si employing strain-induced growth of very tall InAs nanowire arrays

One-dimensional crystal growth enables the epitaxial integration of III-V compound semiconductors onto a silicon (Si) substrate despite significant lattice mismatch. Here, we report a short-wavelength infrared (SWIR, 1.4–3 μm) photodetector that employs InAs nanowires (NWs) grown on Si. The wafer-scale epitaxial InAs NWs form on the Si substrate without a metal catalyst or pattern assistance; thus, the growth is free of metal-atom-induced contaminations, and is also cost-effective. InAs NW arrays with an average height of 50 μm provide excellent anti-reflective and light trapping properties over a wide wavelength range. The photodetector exhibits a peak detectivity of 1.9 × 108 cm·Hz1/2/W for the SWIR band at 77 K and operates at temperatures as high as 220 K. The SWIR photodetector on the Si platform demonstrated in this study is promising for future low-cost optical sensors and Si photonics.

Crystal phase-dependent nanophotonic resonances in InAs nanowire arrays.

Nanostructures have many material, electronic, and optical properties that are not found in bulk systems and that are relevant for technological applications. For example, nanowires realized from III-V semiconductors can be grown into a wurtzite crystal structure. This crystal structure does not naturally exist in bulk where these materials form the zinc-blende counterpart. Being able to concomitantly grow these nanowires in the zinc-blende and/or wurtzite crystal structure provides an important degree of control for the design and optimization of optoelectronic applications based on these semiconductor nanostructures. However, the refractive indices of this new crystallographic phase have so far not been elucidated. This shortcoming makes it impossible to predict and utilize the full potential of these new nanostructured materials for optoelectronics applications: a careful design and optimization of optical resonances by tuning the nanostructure geometry is needed to achieve optimal performance. Here, we report and analyze striking differences in the optical response of nanophotonic resonances in wurtzite and zinc-blende InAs nanowire arrays. Specifically, through reflectance measurements we find that the resonance can be tuned down to λ ≈ 380 nm in wurtzite nanowires by decreasing the nanowire diameter. In stark contrast, a similar tuning to below λ ≈ 500 nm is not possible in the zinc-blende nanowires. Furthermore, we find that the wurtzite nanowires can absorb twice as strongly as the zinc-blende nanowires. We attribute these strikingly large differences in resonant behavior to large differences between the refractive indices of the two crystallographic phases realized in these nanostructures. We anticipate our findings to be relevant for other III-V materials as well as for all material systems that manifest polytypism. Taken together, our results demonstrate crystal phase engineering as a potentially new design dimension for optoelectronics applications.

Non-Lithographic Growth of Core–Shell GaAs Nanowires on Si for Optoelectronic Applications

We demonstrated a nonlithographic method for integrating GaAs nanowire (NW) array-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs) on silicon (Si) substrates. A sub-100 nm hole array on a deposited SiO2 layer was patterned on an entire 2 in. Si wafer based on a sacrificed self-assembled InAs NW array. Then, a core–shell n–p junction GaAs NW array was grown on exposed Si windows via the selective-area growth method. The electrical properties of the core–shell n–p junction GaAs NW has been measured and compared to those of the core–shell junction NWs formed via the self-assembled growth method. Room temperature electroluminescence was successfully observed from the fabricated GaAs NW array-based LEDs. The core–shell junction III–V NW array epitaxially grown on a ubiquitous Si platform could be applied to future low-cost optical devices.

Catalyst-Free Heteroepitaxial MOCVD Growth of InAs Nanowires on Si Substrates

We report the systematic study of catalyst-free syntheses of InAs nanowires on Si substrates with various growth parameters and surface treatments. Nanowire morphology and crystal structure were studied using scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. High-resolution cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy studies reveal heteroepitaxy of InAs[111] nanowires on Si(111) substrate with clean and sharp interface. Single nanowire field-effect transistor measurements of InAs nanowires under optimal growth conditions indicate a typical electron concentration of 1018–1019 cm–3 and mobility of around 1000 cm2/V·s. III/V on Si devices with InAs nanowire array on p-Si show a broadband photodetection up to wavelength of 3.5 μm.

Geometric model for metalorganic vapour phase epitaxy of dense nanowire arrays

We propose a geometric model to estimate the contribution of substrate surface diffusion to growth of dense nanowire arrays using metalorganic vapour phase epitaxy. It is shown that the nanowire mantle area becomes the most significant collector of growth material when the nanowire diameter is large and the inter-nanowire pitch is small. It is concluded that this growth regime is important for the array geometries typically used for optoelectronic and photovoltaic applications of nanowires. The growth rate under these conditions is also not constant with time, due to the growing nanowire mantle area. This result was confirmed by experiments in which dense arrays of InAs nanowires were grown and the nanowire growth rate was measured as a function of time.

Drastically increased absorption in vertical semiconductor nanowire arrays: A non-absorbing dielectric shell makes the difference

Enhanced absorption of especially long wavelength light is needed to enable the full potential of semiconductor nanowire (NW) arrays for optoelectronic applications. We show both experimentally and theoretically that a transparent dielectric shell (Al2O3 coating) can drastically improve the absorption of light in InAs NW arrays. With an appropriate thickness of the Al2O3 shell, we achieve four times stronger absorption in the NWs compared to uncoated NWs and twice as good absorption as when the dielectric completely fills the space between the NWs. We provide detailed theoretical analysis from a combination of full electrodynamic modeling and intuitive electrostatic approximations. This reveals how the incident light penetrates better into the absorbing NW core with increasing thickness of the dielectric shell until a resonant shell thickness is reached. We provide a simple description of how to reach this strongly absorbing resonance condition, making our results easy to apply for a broad wavelength range and a multifold of semiconductor and dielectric coating material combinations.

Sub-100 nm Si nanowire and nano-sheet array formation by MacEtch using a non-lithographic InAs nanowire mask

We report a non-lithographical method for the fabrication of ultra-thin silicon (Si) nanowire (NW) and nano-sheet arrays through metal-assisted-chemical-etching (MacEtch) with gold (Au). The mask used for metal patterning is a vertical InAs NW array grown on a Si substrate via catalyst-free, strain-induced, one-dimensional heteroepitaxy. Depending on the Au evaporation angle, the shape and size of the InAs NWs are transferred to Si by Au-MacEtch as is (NWs) or in its projection (nano-sheets). The Si NWs formed have diameters in the range of ∼25–95 nm, and aspect ratios as high as 250 in only 5 min etch time. The formation process is entirely free of organic chemicals, ensuring pristine Au–Si interfaces, which is one of the most critical requirements for high yield and reproducible MacEtch.

Influence of shadow effect on the growth and shape of InAs nanowires

The influence of shadow effect originating from the neighboring nanowires on the nanowire growth is theoretically investigated. The nanowire axial and radial growth rates and the nanowire shape are shown to be strongly dependent on the nanowire surface density and the direction of incident flux. Theoretical predictions are compared with the experimental shapes of InAs nanowires grown by the Au-catalyzed molecular beam epitaxy. In particular, the barrel-like shape observed in dense arrays of InAs nanowires is well described by the model. Very importantly, we show that the shadow effect helps to avoid otherwise enabled radial growth and to preserve the cylindrical nanowire shape.

Colorful InAs Nanowire Arrays: From Strong to Weak Absorption with Geometrical Tuning

One-dimensional nanostructure arrays can show fascinatingly different, tunable optical response compared to bulk systems. Here we study theoretically and demonstrate experimentally how to engineer the reflection and absorption of light in epitaxially grown vertical arrays of InAs nanowires (NWs). A striking observation is optically visible colors of the array, which we show can be tuned depending on the geometrical parameters of the array. Specifically, larger diameter NW arrays absorb light more effectively out to a longer wavelength compared to smaller diameter arrays. Thus, controlling the diameter provides a way to tune the optically observable color of an array. We also find that arrays with a larger amount of InAs material reflect less light (or absorb more light) than arrays with less material. On the basis of these two trends, InAs NW arrays can be designed to absorb light either much more or much less efficiently than a thin film of an effective medium containing the same amount of InAs as the NW array. The tunable absorption and low area filling factor of the NW arrays compared to thin film bode well for III-V photovoltaics and photodetection.