Molecular beam epitaxy growth of free-standing plane-parallel InAs nanoplates

Nature Nanotechnology volume 2, pages761–764(2007)Cite this article

Abstract

Free-standing nanostructures such as suspended carbon nanotubes1, graphene layers2, III-V nanorod photonic crystals3 and three-dimensional structures4 have recently attracted attention because they could form the basis of devices with unique electronic, optoelectronic and electromechanical characteristics. Here we report the growth by molecular beam epitaxy of free-standing nanoplates of InAs that are close to being atomically plane. The structural and transport properties of these semiconducting nanoplates have been examined with scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and low-temperature electron transport measurements. The carrier density of the nanoplates can be reduced to zero by applying a voltage to a nearby gate electrode, creating a new type of suspended quantum well that can be used to explore low-dimensional electron transport. The electronic and optical properties of such systems also make them potentially attractive for photovoltaic and sensing applications5.

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Figure 1: Growth direction and surface orientation of InAs nanoplates grown on a GaAs (100) substrate.
Figure 2: Schematic drawings of the assumed growth process.
Figure 3: Nanoplates on InAs and GaAs substrates.
Figure 4: Transport characteristics of an InAs nanoplate at 320 mK and ∼2 K using a two-terminal measurement setup.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge support from the Danish Research Councils FTP (grant number 274-05-0178) and FNU (grant number 272-05-0358) and the EC projects SECOQC, ULTRA-1D and CARDEQ. We thank Thomas Sand Jespersen for discussions.

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Affiliations

  1. Nano-Science Center, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 5, Copenhagen, DK-2100, Denmark

    Martin Aagesen, Erik Johnson, Claus B. Sørensen, Simon O. Mariager, Robert Feidenhans'l, Jesper Nygård & Poul Erik Lindelof

  2. SunFlake A/S, Nano-Science Center, Universitetsparken 5, Copenhagen, DK-2100, Denmark

    Martin Aagesen

  3. Department of Materials Research, Risø National Laboratory, Technical University of Denmark, Roskilde, DK-4000, Denmark

    Erik Johnson

  4. Faculty of Engineering, Christian-Albrecht-University Kiel, Kaiserstrasse 2, Kiel, 24143, Germany

    Erdmann Spiecker

Authors
  1. Martin Aagesen
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  2. Erik Johnson
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  3. Claus B. Sørensen
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  4. Simon O. Mariager
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  5. Robert Feidenhans'l
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  6. Erdmann Spiecker
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  7. Jesper Nygård
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  8. Poul Erik Lindelof
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Martin Aagesen or Poul Erik Lindelof.

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Supplementary Information

Supplementary methods and supplementary figures S1–S5 (PDF 2257 kb)

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Aagesen, M., Johnson, E., Sørensen, C. et al. Molecular beam epitaxy growth of free-standing plane-parallel InAs nanoplates. Nature Nanotech 2, 761–764 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2007.378

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