Misfit strain in core–shell nanowires can be elastically released by nanowire bending in case of asymmetric shell growth around the nanowire core. In this work, we investigate the bending of GaAs nanowires during the asymmetric overgrowth by an In
x
Ga1−x
As shell caused by avoiding substrate rotation. We observe that the nanowire bending direction depends on the nature of the substrate’s oxide layer, demonstrated by Si substrates covered by native and thermal oxide layers. Further, we follow the bending evolution by time-resolved in situ x-ray diffraction measurements during the deposition of the asymmetric shell. The XRD measurements give insight into the temporal development of the strain as well as the bending evolution in the core–shell nanowire.
Coherent X-ray diffraction was used to measure the type, quantity and the relative distances between stacking faults along the growth direction of two individual wurtzite GaAs nanowires grown by metalorganic vapour epitaxy. The presented approach is based on the general property of the Patterson function, which is the autocorrelation of the electron density as well as the Fourier transformation of the diffracted intensity distribution of an object. Partial Patterson functions were extracted from the diffracted intensity measured along the ½000 " 1 1 direction in the vicinity of the wurtzite 00 " 1 1 " 5 5 Bragg peak. The maxima of the Patterson function encode both the distances between the fault planes and the type of the fault planes with the sensitivity of a single atomic bilayer. The positions of the fault planes are deduced from the positions and shapes of the maxima of the Patterson function and they are in excellent agreement with the positions found with transmission electron microscopy of the same nanowire.
Core–shell nanowires (NWs) with asymmetric shells allow for strain engineering of NW properties because of the bending resulting from the lattice mismatch between core and shell material. The bending of NWs can be readily observed by electron microscopy. Using X-ray diffraction analysis with a micro- and nano-focused beam, the bending radii found by the microscopic investigations are confirmed and the strain in the NW core is analyzed. For that purpose, a kinematical diffraction theory for highly bent crystals is developed. The homogeneity of the bending and strain is studied along the growth axis of the NWs, and it is found that the lower parts, i.e. close to the substrate/wire interface, are bent less than the parts further up. Extreme bending radii down to ∼3 µm resulting in strain variation of ∼2.5% in the NW core are found.
We report on the results of coherent X-ray diffraction imaging (CXDI) and ptychography measurements of two individual core-shell-shell GaAs/(In,Ga)As/GaAs nanowires (NWs) grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) on patterned Si(111) substrate. CXDI at the axial GaAs 111 Bragg reflection was applied at different positions along the NW axis in order to characterize the NWs in terms of structural homogeneity along the radial directions. At each positon 3D reciprocal space maps have been recoded and inverted using phase retrieval algorithms. The CXDI were complemented by 2D ptychography measurements at GaAs 111 Bragg reflection probing the same NWs with respect to their structural homogeneity. Both methods provide structural homogeneity for NW1 and NW2 except at the bottom part of the NWs. In case of NW2 CXDI and ptychography show changes in the structure of the top part of the NW indicated by 60° rotation of the indicated three-fold rotational symmetry in the observed diffraction patterns and changes in the strain field reconstructed from ptychography.
Coherent X-ray diffraction imaging was used to detect a threefold rotational symmetry in hexagonally shaped single semiconductor nanowires. The core–shell–shell structure was resolved by probing symmetric hhh Bragg reflections.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.