Diameter-Dependent Photocurrent in InAsSb Nanowire Infrared Photodetectors.

Photoconductors using vertical arrays of InAs/InAs1-xSbx nanowires with varying Sb composition x have been fabricated and characterized. The spectrally resolved photocurrents are strongly diameter dependent with peaks, which are red-shifted with diameter, appearing for thicker wires. Results from numerical simulations are in good agreement with the experimental data and reveal that the peaks are due to resonant modes that enhance the coupling of light into the wires. Through proper selection of wire diameter, the absorptance can be increased by more than 1 order of magnitude at a specific wavelength compared to a thin planar film with the same amount of material. A maximum 20% cutoff wavelength of 5.7 μm is obtained at 5 K for a wire diameter of 717 nm at a Sb content of x = 0.62, but simulations predict that detection at longer wavelengths can be achieved by increasing the diameter. Furthermore, photodetection in InAsSb nanowire arrays integrated on Si substrates is also demonstrated

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Nanowires have the potential to play an important role for next-generation light-emitting diodes. In this work, we present a growth scheme for radial nanowire quantum-well structures in the AlGaInP material system using a GaInP nanowire core as a template for radial growth with GaInP as the active layer for emission and AlGaInP as charge carrier barriers. The different layers were analyzed by X-ray diffraction to ensure lattice-matched radial structures. Furthermore, we evaluated the material composition and heterojunction interface sharpness by scanning transmission electron microscopy energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The electro-optical properties were investigated by injection luminescence measurements. The presented results can be a valuable track toward radial nanowire light-emitting diodes in the AlGaInP material system in the red/orange/yellow color spectrum

Optical Studies of Polytypism in GaAs Nanowires

Semiconductor nanowires are often regarded as having potential to be building blocks for novel applications. Their geometry allows defect-free combinations of materials that have a high degree of lattice mismatch. III-V semiconductor nanowires can also be grown in the wurtzite crystal phase, which is not stable in bulk material or thin films. The atomic arrangement differs between wurtzite and zinc blende polytypes, resulting in different optical and electrical properties. This thesis focuses on studies of the wurtzite GaAs polytype and on understanding the optical behaviour of polytypic heterostructures in GaAs nanowires. Optical techniques such as photoluminescence, photoluminescence excitation, Raman scattering and resonant Raman scattering spectroscopy are contactless and versatile tools for studying semiconductor nanowires. They are capable of providing information about emission, absorption and scattering of light that are directly linked to the electronic band structure of semiconductors. In this work, combining these spectroscopic techniques with transmission electron microscopy performed on the same single nanowires allowed the exraction of various fundamental parameters of wurtzite GaAs. The thesis demonstrates strong quantum confinement effects in zinc blende and wurtzite quantum structures embedded in nanowires of the dissimilar polytype, as well as in thin (down to 9.7 nm in diameter) wurtzite GaAs nanowires. The results obtained in this work show good agreement with theoretical theoretical predictions and will be of importance in future studies of wurtzite GaAs, and in designing potential novel devices

Electro-optical Characterization of Semiconductor Nanowire Devices

Degradation of properties of semiconductor devices when layers of different materials are grown on top of each other is a common issue if their lattices are mismatched. Strain between them is reduced by creating defects like vacancies. This problem can be solved by growing structures, called nanowires, where stress is reduced radially. It is one of many reasons why it became a very interesting subject of investigation. We have used a Fourier transform spectrometer, a flexible instrument with high spectral resolution to investigate single InP nanowires with different doping, where no blue shift corresponding to state filling effect was observed, and the electro-optical properties of GaSb/InAsSb/InAs far infrared photodetectors. Also, electroluminescence of InP nanowire based light emitting diodes with a radial InP/InAsP/InP quantum well was studied. Broad spectrum, due to a non-uniform width of the quantum well, with two peaks at 1.46 eV and 1.57 eV was measured

Non-resonant Raman scattering of wurtzite GaAs and InP nanowires

It is now possible to synthesize the wurtzite crystal phase of most III-V semiconductors in the form of nanowires. This sparks interest for fundamental research and adds extra degrees of freedom for designing novel devices. However, the understanding of many properties, such as phonon dispersion, of these wurtzite semiconductors is not yet complete, despite the extensive number of studies published. The E2 L and E2 H phonon modes exist in the wurtzite crystal phase only (not in zinc blende) where the E2 H mode has been already experimentally observed in Ga and In arsenides and phosphides, while the E2 L mode has been observed in GaP, but not in GaAs or InP. In order to determine the energy of E2 L in wurtzite GaAs and InP, we performed Raman scattering measurements on wurtzite GaAs and InP nanowires. We found clear evidence of the E2 L phonon mode at 64 cm−1 and 54 cm−1, respectively. Polarization-dependent experiments revealed similar selection rules for both the E2 L and the E2 H phonon modes (as expected) where the intensity peaked with excitation and detection polarization being perpendicular to the [0001] crystallographic direction. We further find that the splitting between the E1(TO) and A1(TO) modes is around 2 cm−1 in wurtzite GaAs and below 1 cm−1 in wurtzite InP. We believe these results will be useful for a better understanding of phonons in wurtzite crystal phase of III-V semiconductors as well as for testing and improving phonon dispersion calculations

Growth parameter design for homogeneous material composition in ternary GaxIn1-xP nanowires.

Ternary nanowires (NWs) often exhibit varying material composition along the NW growth axis because of different diffusion properties of the precursor molecules. This constitutes a problem for optoelectronic devices for which a homogeneous material composition is most often of importance. Especially, ternary GaInP NWs grown under a constant Ga-In precursor ratio typically show inhomogeneous material composition along the length of the NW due to the complexity of low temperature precursor pyrolysis and relative rates of growth species from gas phase diffusion and surface diffusion that contribute to synthesis of particle-assisted growth. Here, we present the results of a method to overcome this challenge by in situ tuning of the trimethylindium molar fraction during growth of ternary Zn-doped GaInP NWs. The NW material compositions were determined by use of x-ray diffraction, scanning transmission electron microscopy and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy and the optical properties by photoluminescence spectroscopy

Temperature dependent electronic band structure of wurtzite GaAs nanowires

It has recently become possible to grow GaAs in the wurtzite crystal phase. This ability allows interesting tests of band-structure theory. Wurtzite GaAs has two closely spaced direct conduction bands as well as three nondegenerate valence bands. The energies of the band edges are not well known, in particular not as a function of temperature. In order to improve the accuracy we have studied the temperature dependence of the conduction band minimum as well as of the second valence band maximum using resonant Raman scattering (of up to 3LO Raman lines). We find that the temperature dependence of the bandgap in wurtzite GaAs is very similar to that in zinc blende GaAs. Our results show that they have the same band gaps not only at 7 K but also at room temperature to within 5 meV. This is in some discrepancy with previous work. We find that the energy difference between the first two Γ9V and Γ7V valence bands is constant, around 100 meV, over the investigated temperature range, 7 K to 300 K. Due to a fortuitous spacing of the energy bands we find a very unexpected and strong quadruple resonance in the resonant Raman scattering

Atomically sharp, crystal phase defined GaAs quantum dots

Crystal phase defined heterostructures, or polytype heterostructures, are atomically sharp with no intermixing, which makes them ideal contenders for a wide number of applications. Although polytype quantum dots have shown promising results as single photon sources, a high degree of control on the dimensions and number of polytype quantum dots is necessary before any application can be developed.In this work we show results from optical characterization of highly controlled wz-zb GaAs quantum dots with sharp photoluminescence signal and a strong indication of 0D density of states. One band effective mass calculations show good agreement with the measured data. Radially confined nanowires with a single wz-zb GaAs interface also show sharp photoluminescence signal and a 0D density of states. This indicates the existence of quantum dot like states in the triangular wells formed at the wz-zb GaAs interface. These results show the potential of polytype quantum dots for physics and optics applications

Wurtzite GaAs Quantum Wires : One-Dimensional Subband Formation

It is of contemporary interest to fabricate nanowires having quantum confinement and one-dimensional subband formation. This is due to a host of applications, for example, in optical devices, and in quantum optics. We have here fabricated and optically investigated narrow, down to 10 nm diameter, wurtzite GaAs nanowires which show strong quantum confinement and the formation of one-dimensional subbands. The fabrication was bottom up and in one step using the vapor-liquid-solid growth mechanism. Combining photoluminescence excitation spectroscopy with transmission electron microscopy on the same individual nanowires, we were able to extract the effective masses of the electrons in the two lowest conduction bands as well as the effective masses of the holes in the two highest valence bands. Our results, combined with earlier demonstrations of thin crystal phase nanodots in GaAs, set the stage for the fabrication of crystal phase quantum dots having full three-dimensional confinement

Sn-seeded GaAs nanowires grown by MOVPE

It has previously been reported that in situ formed Sn nanoparticles can successfully initiate GaAs nanowire growth with a self-assembled radial p–n junction composed of a Sn-doped n-type core and a C-doped p-type shell. In this paper, we investigate the effect of fundamental growth parameters on the morphology and crystal structure of Sn-seeded GaAs nanowires. We show that growth can be achieved in a broad temperature window by changing the TMGa precursor flow simultaneously with decreasing temperature to prevent nanowire kinking at low temperatures. We find that changes in the supply of both AsH3 and TMGa can lead to nanowire kinking and that the formation of twin planes is closely related to a low V/III ratio. From PL results, we observe an increase of the average luminescence energy induced by heavy doping which shifts the Fermi level into the conduction band. Furthermore, the doping level of Sn and C is dependent on both the temperature and the V/III ratio. These results indicate that using Sn as the seed particle for nanowire growth is quite different from traditionally used Au in for example growth conditions and resulting nanowire properties. Thus, it is very interesting to explore alternative metal seed particles with controllable introduction of other impurities