Advances in semiconductor nanowire growth on graphene

Abstract

Here we review the recent research activities on the epitaxial growth of semiconductor nanowires (NWs) on graphene substrates. Semiconductor NWs with quasi one‐dimensional structure have become an active research field due to their various interesting physical properties and potentials for future electronic and optoelectronic device applications, such as transistors, sensors, solar cells, light emitting diodes, and lasers. At almost the same time graphene, a two‐dimensional material made of carbon, was discovered and has gained an ever increasing interest during the last few years owing to its remarkable properties, including excellent electrical conductivity, optical transparency, and mechanical strength and flexibility. A hybrid structure by epitaxially growing semiconductor NWs on graphene could provide a new avenue for the development of future advanced NW‐based flexible electronic and optoelectronic devices. We address the challenges for the growth of semiconductor NWs on graphene, with a special focus on the III–V semiconductors, and highlight some potential applications of the NW/graphene hybrid system. (© 2013 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Van der Waals Epitaxy of III-Nitrides and Its Applications

“…As Alaskar et al confirmed that during the GaAs van der Waals epitaxy process on multilayer graphene covered silicon substrate, the orientation of the epilayer is controlled by the underlying graphene layer despite the poor crystallinity [47]. A generic model proposed by Munshi et al can explain possible structures of semiconductor/graphene interfaces and different atomic arrangements of the semiconductor atoms on graphene [60,61]. They pointed out that the (0001) plane of a hexagonal semiconductor ((111) plane of a cubic semiconductor) is energetically preferred to nucleate on graphene due to the lattice symmetry, which subsequently determines the out-of-plane epitaxial relationship for epilayer.…”

Fundamentals of the nanowire solar cell: Optimization of the open circuit voltage

“…We like to look at a nanowire solar cell as typical a 2µm thick film on a silicon 59,[183][184][185][186][187] or e.g. a graphene 188,189 substrate with a nanowire filling fraction 14,69 between 10% and 20%. Since a III/V substrate constitutes the major fraction of the material cost of a III/V solar cell, elimination of the expensive substrate will substantially reduce the costs, as has been shown by the company Alta Devices for planar GaAs solar cells 167 .…”

Catalyst-free growth of InAs/InxGa1−xAs coaxial nanorod heterostructures on graphene layers using molecular beam epitaxy

“…The use of inorganic semiconductors as an active material is desirable for flexible electronic and optoelectronic device applications, [1][2][3] due to the many potential advantages over organic semiconductors in terms of lifetime and efficiency. 4 However, continuous, rigid inorganic semiconductor thin films have no tolerance for mechanical deformation.…”