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Solid-phase diffusion mechanism for GaAs nanowire growth

Nature Materials volume 3, pages 677–681 (2004)Cite this article

Abstract

Controllable production of nanometre-sized structures is an important field of research, and synthesis of one-dimensional objects, such as nanowires, is a rapidly expanding area with numerous applications, for example, in electronics, photonics, biology and medicine. Nanoscale electronic devices created inside nanowires, such as p–n junctions1, were reported ten years ago. More recently, hetero-structure devices with clear quantum-mechanical behaviour have been reported, for example the double-barrier resonant tunnelling diode2 and the single-electron transistor3. The generally accepted theory of semiconductor nanowire growth is the vapour–liquid–solid (VLS) growth mechanism4, based on growth from a liquid metal seed particle. In this letter we suggest the existence of a growth regime quite different from VLS. We show that this new growth regime is based on a solid-phase diffusion mechanism of a single component through a gold seed particle, as shown by in situ heating experiments of GaAs nanowires in a transmission electron microscope, and supported by highly resolved chemical analysis and finite element calculations of the mass transport and composition profiles.

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Figure 1: Growth model and TEM images of GaAs nanowires.
Figure 2: The variation of composition in the nanowire seed particle is determined by XEDS line scans along the wire.
Figure 3: TEM image and electron diffraction of a GaAs nanowire at high temperature.
Figure 4: The gallium concentration in the seed particle and the growth rate of the nanowire, according to calculations assuming solid-phase diffusion.

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Acknowledgements

This work was performed within the Nanometer Structure Consortium at Lund University, and supported by the Swedish Research Council (VR), the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (SSF), Office of Naval Research (ONR) and the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation.

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Author notes

  1. Ann I. Persson and Magnus W. Larsson: These authors contributed equally to this work

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Solid State Physics, Lund University, Box 118, Lund, S-221 00, Sweden

    Ann I. Persson, B. Jonas Ohlsson & Lars Samuelson

  2. Materials Chemistry/nCHREM, Lund University, Box 124, Lund, S-221 00, Sweden

    Magnus W. Larsson & L. Reine Wallenberg

  3. Chemical Engineering, Lund University, Box 124, Lund, S-221 00, Sweden

    Stig Stenström

Authors
  1. Ann I. Persson
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  2. Magnus W. Larsson
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  4. B. Jonas Ohlsson
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  5. Lars Samuelson
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  6. L. Reine Wallenberg
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Correspondence to L. Reine Wallenberg.

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Persson, A., Larsson, M., Stenström, S. et al. Solid-phase diffusion mechanism for GaAs nanowire growth. Nature Mater 3, 677–681 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat1220

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