title: Phase separation induced by Au catalysts in ternary InGaAs nanowires.
abstract: We report a novel phase separation phenomenon observed in the growth of ternary In(x)Ga(1-x)As nanowires by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. A spontaneous formation of core-shell nanowires is investigated by cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy, revealing the compositional complexity within the ternary nanowires. It has been found that for In(x)Ga(1-x)As nanowires high precursor flow rates generate ternary In(x)Ga(1-x)As cores with In-rich shells, while low precursor flow rates produce binary GaAs cores with ternary In(x)Ga(1-x)As shells. First-principle calculations combined with thermodynamic considerations suggest that this phenomenon is due to competitive alloying of different group-III elements with Au catalysts, and variations in elemental concentrations of group-III materials in the catalyst under different precursor flow rates. This study shows that precursor flow rates are critical factors for manipulating Au catalysts to produce nanowires of desired composition.
authors: Materials Engineering, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia.
authors: Ya-Nan
authors: YN
authors: Guo
authors: Hong-Yi
authors: HY
authors: Xu
authors: Graeme J
authors: GJ
authors: Auchterlonie
authors: Tim
authors: T
authors: Burgess
authors: Hannah J
authors: HJ
authors: Joyce
authors: Qiang
authors: Q
authors: Gao
authors: Hark Hoe
authors: HH
authors: Tan
authors: Chennupati
authors: C
authors: Jagadish
authors: Hai-Bo
authors: HB
authors: Shu
authors: Xiao-Shuang
authors: XS
authors: Chen
authors: Wei
authors: W
authors: Lu
authors: Yong
authors: Y
authors: Kim
authors: Jin
authors: J
authors: Zou