Article abstract
Nature Materials 5, 574 - 580 (2006)
Published online: 18 June 2006 | doi:10.1038/nmat1677
Subject Categories: Semiconductors | Nanoscale materials
Structural properties of 
111
B -oriented III–V nanowires
Jonas Johansson1, Lisa S. Karlsson2, C. Patrik T. Svensson3, Thomas Mårtensson1, Brent A. Wacaser1, Knut Deppert1, Lars Samuelson1 & Werner Seifert1
Abstract
Controlled growth of nanowires is an important, emerging research field with many applications in, for example, electronics, photonics, and life sciences. Nanowires of zinc blende crystal structure, grown in the 
111
B direction, which is the favoured direction of growth, usually have a large number of twin-plane defects. Such defects limit the performance of optoelectronic nanowire-based devices. To investigate this defect formation, we examine GaP nanowires grown by metal-organic vapour-phase epitaxy. We show that the nanowire segments between the twin planes are of octahedral shape and are terminated by {111} facets, resulting in a microfaceting of the nanowires. We discuss these findings in a nucleation context, where we present an idea on how the twin planes form. This investigation contributes to the understanding of defect formation in nanowires. One future prospect of such knowledge is to determine strategies on how to control the crystallinity of nanowires.
- Solid State Physics, Lund University, PO Box 118, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden
- National Centre for High Resolution Electron Microscopy (nCHREM)/Polymer & Materials Chemistry, Lund University, PO Box 124, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden
- QuNano AB, Stora Fiskaregatan 13E, SE-222 24, Lund, Sweden
Correspondence to: Jonas Johansson1 e-mail: jonas.johansson@ftf.lth.se
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