skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: The role of surface passivation in controlling Ge nanowire faceting

Journal Article · · Nano Letters
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [1];  [2];  [1]
  1. Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
  2. T.J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, NY (United States)
  3. Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States)

In situ transmission electron microscopy observations of nanowire morphologies indicate that during Au-catalyzed Ge nanowire growth, Ge facets can rapidly form along the nanowire sidewalls when the source gas (here, digermane) flux is decreased or the temperature is increased. This sidewall faceting is accompanied by continuous catalyst loss as Au diffuses from the droplet to the wire surface. We suggest that high digermane flux and low temperatures promote effective surface passivation of Ge nanowires with H or other digermane fragments inhibiting diffusion and attachment of Au and Ge on the sidewalls. Furthermore, these results illustrate the essential roles of the precursor gas and substrate temperature in maintaining nanowire sidewall passivation, necessary to ensure the growth of straight, untapered, <111>-oriented nanowires.

Research Organization:
Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC00112704
OSTI ID:
1235851
Report Number(s):
BNL-108610-2015-JA; KC0403020
Journal Information:
Nano Letters, Vol. 15, Issue 12; ISSN 1530-6984
Publisher:
American Chemical SocietyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 16 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (27)

Controlled Synthesis of Millimeter-Long Silicon Nanowires with Uniform Electronic Properties journal August 2008
Nanoelectronics from the bottom up journal November 2007
The influence of the surface migration of gold on the growth of silicon nanowires journal January 2006
Control of Si Nanowire Growth by Oxygen journal June 2006
Spreading of Liquid AuSi on Vapor−Liquid−Solid-Grown Si Nanowires journal May 2010
Controlling Silicon Nanowire Growth Direction via Surface Chemistry journal May 2012
Control of Gold Surface Diffusion on Si Nanowires journal May 2008
Direct Observation of Transient Surface Species during Ge Nanowire Growth and Their Influence on Growth Stability journal July 2015
Ledge-flow-controlled catalyst interface dynamics during Si nanowire growth journal March 2008
An Environmental Transmission Electron Microscope for in situ Synthesis and Characterization of Nanomaterials journal July 2005
Controlling nanowire structures through real time growth studies journal October 2010
In Situ Studies of the Interaction of Dislocations with Point Defects during Annealing of Ion Implanted Si/SiGe/Si (001) Heterostructures journal June 1998
Kinetics of Individual Nucleation Events Observed in Nanoscale Vapor-Liquid-Solid Growth journal November 2008
Formation of Metastable Liquid Catalyst during Subeutectic Growth of Germanium Nanowires journal August 2010
Germanium Nanowire Growth Below the Eutectic Temperature journal May 2007
Radius selection and droplet unpinning in vapor-liquid-solid-grown nanowires journal June 2010
Transmission Electron Microscopy book January 1996
Au Stabilization and Coverage of Sawtooth Facets on Si Nanowires Grown by Vapor−Liquid−Solid Epitaxy journal September 2008
Au Transport in Catalyst Coarsening and Si Nanowire Formation journal July 2014
Chemical Control of Semiconductor Nanowire Kinking and Superstructure journal June 2012
Investigation of the kinetics of digermane chemisorption and reaction product desorption in thin film growth of germanium journal September 1993
The adsorption of hydrogen, digermane, and disilane on Ge(111): a multiple internal reflection infrared spectroscopy study journal January 1990
Interplay between Defect Propagation and Surface Hydrogen in Silicon Nanowire Kinking Superstructures journal March 2014
Au on vapor-liquid-solid grown Si nanowires: Spreading of liquid AuSi from the catalytic seed journal September 2010
Advanced core/multishell germanium/silicon nanowire heterostructures: The Au-diffusion bottleneck journal July 2011
Pressure-Induced Orientation Control of the Growth of Epitaxial Silicon Nanowires journal August 2008
Control of Surface Migration of Gold Particles on Si Nanowires journal December 2007

Cited By (4)

Liquid cell transmission electron microscopy and its applications journal January 2020
Solution-processed high- k dielectrics for improving the performance of flexible intrinsic Ge nanowire transistors: dielectrics screening, interface engineering and electrical properties journal September 2019
Direct evidence of 2H hexagonal Si in Si nanowires journal January 2019
Direct Observation of Early Stages of Growth of Multilayered DNA-Templated Au-Pd-Au Core-Shell Nanoparticles in Liquid Phase journal February 2019