The Diffusion Mechanism in the Formation of GaAs and AlGaAs Nanowhiskers during the Process of Molecular-Beam Epitaxy

Journal Article · Sun May 15 04:00:00 EDT 2005 · Semiconductors

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1134/1.1923565· OSTI ID:20718898

Cirlin, G E; Samsonenko, Yu B; Tonkikh, A A ^[1]; Dubrovskii, V G; Soshnikov, I P; Ustinov, V M ^[2]; Sibirev, N V ^[1]

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1. Institute for Analytical Instrumentation, Russian Academy of Sciences, Rizhskii pr. 26, St. Petersburg, 190103 (Russian Federation)
2. Ioffe Physicotechnical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, ul. Politekhnicheskaya 26, St. Petersburg, 194021 (Russian Federation)

The formation of GaAs and AlGaAs nanowhiskers using molecular-beam epitaxy on GaAs (111)B surfaces activated with Au is theoretically and experimentally studied. It is experimentally shown that nanowhiskers whose length exceeds the effective thickness of the deposited GaAs by an order of magnitude can be grown. It is found that the experimental dependences of the nanowhisker length L on its diameter D can differ radically from those observed in the case of a vapor-liquid-solid growth mechanism. The L(D) dependences obtained in this study are decreasing functions of D. The above effects are related to the existence of the diffusion transport of atoms from the surface towards the tips of the whiskers, which leads to a considerable increase in the growth rate of thin whiskers. A theoretical model of the formation of nanowhiskers in the process of molecular-beam epitaxy is developed. The model provides a unified description of the vapor-liquid-solid and diffusion growth mechanisms and qualitatively explains the experimental results obtained.

• OSTI ID: 20718898
• Journal Information: Semiconductors, Journal Name: Semiconductors Journal Issue: 5 Vol. 39; ISSN SMICES; ISSN 1063-7826
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
ALUMINIUM ARSENIDES
CRYSTAL GROWTH
GALLIUM ARSENIDES
MOLECULAR BEAM EPITAXY
NANOSTRUCTURES
SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS
THICKNESS
VAPORS
WHISKERS