Crystallographically driven Au catalyst movement during growth of InAs/GaAs axial nanowire heterostructures

Abstract

The movement of Au catalysts during growth of InAs on GaAsnanowires has been carefully investigated by transmission electron microscopy. It has been found that Au catalysts preferentially stay on {112}BGaAs sidewalls. Since a {112} surface is composed of a {111} facet and a {002} facet and since {111} facets are polar facets for the zinc-blende structure, this crystallographic preference is attributed to the different interface energies caused by the different polar facets. We anticipate that these observations will be useful for the design of nanowireheterostructure based devices. Show more