Why does wurtzite form in nanowires of III-V zinc-blende semiconductors?

We develop a nucleation-based model to explain the formation of the wurtzite (WZ) crystalline phase during the vapor-liquid-solid growth of free-standing nanowires of zinc-blende (ZB) semiconductors. We first show that, in nanowires, nucleation generally occurs at the outer edge of the solid/liquid interface (the triple phase line) rather than elsewhere at the solid/liquid interface. In the present case, this entails major differences between ZB and WZ nuclei. Depending on the pertinent interface energies, WZ nucleation is favored at high liquid supersaturation. This explains our systematic observation of ZB during the early stages of nanowire growth.Comment: 4 pages with 4 figures Submitted to Physical Review Letter

Structure and magnetism of orthorhombic epitaxial FeMnAs

The molecular beam epitaxy growth of Fe on MnAs/GaAs(001) leads to the formation of an epitaxial FeMnAs phase at the Fe/MnAs interface. The investigation of the structure by high angle annular dark field imaging in a scanning transmission electron microscope reveals an unusual orthorhombic structure, with vacancy ordering. Ab initio calculations show an antiferromagnetic ground state for this orthorhombic FeMnAs.Fil: Demaille, Dominique. Laboratorio Internacional Franco-Argentino en Nanociencias; Francia. Universite Pierre et Marie Curie. Institut des Nanosciences de Paris; FranciaFil: Patriarche, Gilles. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; FranciaFil: Helman, Christian. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica; Argentina. Laboratorio Internacional Franco-Argentino en Nanociencias; FranciaFil: Eddrief, Mahmoud. Laboratorio Internacional Franco-Argentino en Nanociencias; Francia. Universite Pierre et Marie Curie. Institut des Nanosciences de Paris; FranciaFil: Etgens, Hugo. Laboratorio Internacional Franco-Argentino en Nanociencias; Francia. Universite Pierre et Marie Curie. Institut des Nanosciences de Paris; FranciaFil: Sacchi, Maurizio. Laboratorio Internacional Franco-Argentino en Nanociencias; Francia. Universite Pierre et Marie Curie. Institut des Nanosciences de Paris; Francia. L’Orme des merisiers Saint-Aubin. Synchrotron SOLEIL; FranciaFil: Llois, Ana Maria. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica; Argentina. Laboratorio Internacional Franco-Argentino en Nanociencias; Francia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Marangolo, Massimiliano. Laboratorio Internacional Franco-Argentino en Nanociencias; Francia. Universite Pierre et Marie Curie. Institut des Nanosciences de Paris; Franci

Polarization dependence of electroluminescence from closely-stacked and columnar quantum dots

Quantum dots (QDs) have a potential for application in semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs), due to their high saturation power related to the low differential gain, fast gain recovery and wide gain spectrum compared to quantum wells. Besides all advantages, QDs realized by Stranski-Krastanov growth mode have a flat shape which leads to a gain anisotropy and a related transverse magnetic (TM) and -electric (TE) polarization dependence as compared to bulk material. This has so far prevented their applications in SOAs. It has been suggested that control of optical polarization anisotropy of the QD can be obtained through QD shape engineering, in closely stacked or columnar QDs (CQDs). To this aim, we have fabricated and tested SOA structures based on closely-stacked and columnar QDs. Closely-stacked InAs QDs with 4, 6 and 10nm GaAs spacer showed a minor improvement in the ratio of TM and TE integrated electroluminescence (EL) over standard QDs along with a strong reduction in efficiency. In contrast, a large improvement was obtained in CQDs, depending on the number of stacked submonolayers which can be attributed to the more symmetric shape of columnar QDs. A relatively small spectral separation (ΔE ~ 21meV) between TE- and TM-EL peaks has been observed showing that heavy- and light hole-like states, respectively are energetically close in these QDs. These results indicate that columnar QDs have a significant potential for polarization-independent QD SO

About the step-flow mechanism at the origin of graphene crystallisation at the surface of catalysts

The nucleation and growth of multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) at the surface of crystalline iron-based catalysts are studied by in situ annealing and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. Graphene planes, parallel to the catalyst surface, appear by a mechanism of step flow, where the atomic layers of catalyst are "replaced" by graphene layers. More interestingly, as the catalyst particles have curved or poly-faceted surfaces, those catalyst atomic layers correspond to no definite atomic plane. The step height may thus vary along a given step flow process. Step bunching due to impeded step migration, in certain growth conditions, yields characteristic catalyst nail-head shapes. Mastering this mechanism opens up the way to tailor the structure of MWCNTs, e.g. with highly parallel carbon walls

Buried dislocation networks designed to organize the growth of III-V semiconductor nanostructures

We first report a detailed transmission electron microscopy study of dislocation networks (DNs) formed at shallowly buried interfaces obtained by bonding two GaAs crystals between which we establish in a controlled manner a twist and a tilt around a k110l direction. For large enough twists, the DN consists of a twodimensional network of screw dislocations accommodating mainly the twist and of a one-dimensional network of mixed dislocations accommodating mainly the tilt. We show that in addition the mixed dislocations accommodate part of the twist and we observe and explain slight unexpected disorientations of the screw dislocations with respect to the k110l directions. By performing a quantitative analysis of the whole DN, we propose a coherent interpretation of these observations which also provides data inaccessible by direct experiments. When the twist is small enough, one screw subnetwork vanishes. The surface strain field induced by such DNs has been used to pilot the lateral ordering of GaAs and InGaAs nanostructures during metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy. We prove that the dimensions and orientations of the nanostructures are correlated with those of the cells of the underlying DN and explain how the interface dislocation structure governs the formation of the nanostructures

In situ generation of indium catalysts to grow crystalline silicon nanowires at low temperature on ITO

International audienceIn situ generation of indium catalyst droplets and subsequent growth of crystalline silicon nanowires on ITO by plasma-enhanced CVD are reported, and the wurtzite (Si-IV) phase is clearly evidenced in some wire

Dynamic formation of spherical voids crossing linear defects

A predictive model for the evolution of porous Ge layer upon thermal treatment is reported. We represent an idealized etched dislocation core as an axially symmetric elongated hole and computed its dynamics during annealing. Numerical simulations of the shape change of a completely spherical void via surface diffusion have been performed. Simulations and experiments show individual large spherical voids, aligned along the dislocation core. The creation of voids could facilitate interactions between dislocations, enabling the dislocation network to change its connectivity in a way that facilitates the subsequent annihilation of dislocation segments. This confirms that thermally activated processes such as state diffusion of porous materials provide mechanisms whereby the defects are removed or arranged in configurations of lower energy. This model is intended to be indicative, and more detailed experimental characterization of process parameters such as annealing temperature and time, and could estimate the annealing time for given temperatures, or vice versa, with the right parameters.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure

Synthesis of long group IV semiconductor nanowires by molecular beam epitaxy

We report the growth of Si and Ge nanowires (NWs) on a Si(111) surface by molecular beam epitaxy. While Si NWs grow perpendicular to the surface, two types of growth axes are found for the Ge NWs. Structural studies of both types of NWs performed with electron microscopies reveal a marked difference between the roughnesses of their respective sidewalls. As the investigation of their length dependence on their diameter indicates that the growth of the NWs predominantly proceeds through the diffusion of adatoms from the substrate up along the sidewalls, difference in the sidewall roughness qualitatively explains the length variation measured between both types of NWs. The formation of atomically flat {111} sidewalls on the <110>-oriented Ge NWs accounts for a larger diffusion length

Multifunctional hybrid silica nanoparticles based on [Mo₆Br₁₄]²⁻ phosphorescent nanosized clusters, magnetic γ-Fe₂O₃ and plasmonic gold nanoparticles

International audienceWe report on the synthesis, characterization and photophysical study of new luminescent and magnetic hybrid silica nanoparticles. Our method is based on the co-encapsulation of single maghemite γ-Fe2O3 nanoparticles and luminescent molybdenum cluster units [Mo6Br(i)8Br(a)6](2-) through a water-in-oil (W/O) microemulsion technique. The as-prepared core-shell [Cs2Mo6Br14-γFe2O3]@SiO2 nanoparticles (45-53 nm) possess a single magnetic core (6, 10.5 or 15 nm) and the cluster units are dispersed in the entire volume of the silica sphere. The [Cs2Mo6Br14-γFe2O3]@SiO2 nanoparticles have a perfect spherical shape with a good monodispersity and they display red and near-infrared (NIR) emission in water under UV excitation, whose intensity depends on the magnetic core size. The hybrid nanoparticles have been characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high annular angular dark field scanning transmission electron microscopy (HAADF-STEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), UV-Vis-NIR spectroscopy and magnetometer SQUID analysis. Small gold nanoparticles were successfully nucleated at the surface of the hybrid silica nanoparticles in order to add plasmonic properties