Growth behaviors of ultrathin ZnSe nanowires by Au-catalyzed molecular-beam epitaxy

Ultrathin ZnSe nanowires grown by Au-catalyzed molecular-beam epitaxy show an interesting growth behavior of diameter dependence of growth rates. The smaller the nanowire diameter, the faster is its growth rate. This growth behavior is totally different from that of the nanowires with diameters greater than 60 nm and cannot be interpreted by the classical theories of the vapor-liquid-solid mechanism. For the Au-catalyzed nanowire growth at low temperatures, we found that the surface and interface incorporation and diffusion of the source atoms at the nanowire tips controlled the growth of ultrathin ZnSe nanowires