Search

We investigate the Au-assisted growth of InAs nanowires on two different kinds of heterostructured substrates: GaAs/AlGaAs structures capped by a 50 nm thick InAs layer grown by molecular beam epitaxy and a 2 microm thick InAs buffer layer on Si(111) obtained by vapor phase epitaxy. Morphological and structural properties of substrates and nanowires are analyzed by atomic force and transmission electron microscopy. Our results indicate a promising direction for the integration of III-V nanostructures on Si-based electronics as well as for the development of novel micromechanical structures incorporating nanowires as their active elements.

Quantitative structural information about epitaxial arrays of nanowires are reported for a InAs/InP longitudinal heterostructure grown by chemical beam epitaxy on an InAs (111)B substrate. Grazing incidence X-ray diffraction allows the separation of the nanowire contribution from the substrate overgrowth and gives averaged information about crystallographic phases, epitaxial relationships (with orientation distribution), and strain. In-plane strain inhomogeneities, intrinsic to the nanowires geometry, are measured and compared to atomistic simulations. Small-angle X-ray scattering evidences the hexagonal symmetry of the nanowire cross-section and provides a rough estimate of size fluctuations.