title: Nucleation and growth mechanism of self-catalyzed InAs nanowires on silicon.
abstract: We report on the nucleation and growth mechanism of self-catalyzed InAs nanowires (NWs) grown on Si (111) substrates by chemical beam epitaxy. Careful choices of the growth parameters lead to In-rich conditions such that the InAs NWs nucleate from an In droplet and grow by the vapor-liquid-solid mechanism while sustaining an In droplet at the tip. As the growth progresses, new NWs continue to nucleate on the Si (111) surface causing a spread in the NW size distribution. The observed behavior in NW nucleation and growth is described within a suitable existing theoretical model allowing us to extract relevant growth parameters. We argue that these results provide useful guidelines to rationally control the growth of self-catalyzed InAs NWs for various applications.
authors.affiliation: NEST Scuola Normale Superiore and Istituto di Nanoscienze-CNR, Piazza S. Silvestro 12, I-56127 Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: U P
authors.initials: UP
authors.lastname: Gomes
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ercolani
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Zannier
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: David
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gemmi
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Beltram
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sorba