(304d) Epitaxial Growth of Inp Nanowires on Silicon

Semiconductor nanowires have potential applications in new and high-performance one-dimensional devices. Epitaxial growth of high-quality semiconductor nanowires on Si surfaces is ideal for utilizing semiconductor nanowires within the frame of mainstream silicon technology. We have achieved epitaxial growth of InP nanowires on Si(111) and Si(100) surfaces by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE). The silicon surfaces are wet cleaned before growth. Indium droplets are deposited onto the silicon surface as the seeds for InP nanowire growth. By finely controlling the experimental conditions, InP nanowires prefer to grow in the <111> directions of the silicon substrates, which makes it possible to grow vertical InP nanowires on Si(111) surface. By restraining the growth of non-vertical nanowires, the growth of all vertical nanowires can be achieved on Si(111) substrate. TEM and PL studies of as-grown InP nanowires will also be presented.