High-performance indium phosphide nanowires synthesized on amorphous substrates: from formation mechanism to optical and electrical transport measurements

Abstract

InP NWs have been extensively explored for next-generation electronic and optoelectronic devices due to their excellent carrier mobility, exciton lifetime and wave-guiding characteristics. Typically, those NWs are grown epitaxially on crystalline substrates which could limit their potential applications requiring high growth yield to be printable or transferable on amorphous and flexible substrates. Here, utilizing Au as catalytic seeds, we successfully demonstrate the synthesis of crystalline, stoichiometric and dense InP NWs on amorphous substrates. Notably, the NWs are found to grow via the vaporliquid-solid (VLS) mechanism with a narrow distribution of diameter (34.6 AE 7.7 nm) uniformly along the entire NW length (>10 mm). Although the grown NWs possess a substantial amount of twin defects, the fabricated NW FETs still exhibit impressive electrical performance with high carrier mobility ($350 cm 2 V À1 s À1 ) and I ON /I OFF ratio ($10 6 ). All these have demonstrated the promising potency of such NWs grown on amorphous substrates for technological applications, as compared to the conventional MBE or MOCVD grown InP NWs.

Synthesis and optical properties of InP quantum dot/nanowire heterostructures

“…Compared with previous results , the two bands show a blue‐shift of ∼152 and 74 nm, respectively. The significant blue shift in the detected spectrum is an expected result of quantum confinement effect , since both the diameters of the InP trunk (∼19 nm) and InP QDs (3–10 nm) in the spheres are comparable with the Bohr radius of bulk InP (∼20 nm), as previously discussed. The very broad emission linewidth can be attributed to the broad size distribution of the QDs , as indicated in Fig.…”

“…Up to date, InP nanowires have been synthesized by various methods, such as metal organic vapor phase epitaxy , laser catalytic growth , molecular beam epitaxy , and metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) . However, very few papers in the literature were reported on the growth of single‐crystalline InP nanowires by CVD route, which is much simpler and economical in comparison to the other methods.…”

Indium phosphide nanowires and their applications in optoelectronic devices

“…Hui et al [36] reported a facile method for the synthesis of high-density InP NWs on the amorphous substrate using gold nanoclusters as catalyst. NWs were grown via VLS-chemical vapour deposition.…”

Formation Mechanisms of InGaAs Nanowires Produced by a Solid-Source Two-Step Chemical Vapor Deposition

“…More importantly, the smooth surface and the low twin-defect density do not scatter or trap electrons which is beneficial to the carrier transfer along NWs [18, 19]. Twin defects and a rough surface in InGaAs NWs can scatter and trap carriers which gives rise to a serious decline in the electrical performance of NWs [3, 4, 15]. Therefore, it is important to synthesize InGaAs NWs with controllable defect densities and a smooth surface to improve their electrical properties for various technological applications.

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