Nanowires and quantum wires of II-VI or III-V semiconductors grown by the vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) or solution-liquid-solid (SLS) mechanisms typically contain frequent zinc-blende, wurtzite structural alternations along their axial dimension.  These structural alternations may negatively influence the optical and transport properties of the wires.  Although single-phase nanowires have been grown in isolated cases, a general understanding of phase control in VLS and SLS-derived wires has not yet emerged.  Recent mechanistic studies have revealed that VLS growth (and by inference SLS growth) is an oscillatory process that advances by sequential nucleation and growth cycles at the liquid-solid (catalyst-nanowire) interface.  Thus, the key to phase control may be in controlling the phase that nucleates in each successive nucleation event at the growth front.  We have found that by adjusting various synthetic parameters to slow the SLS-growth kinetics, CdTe quantum wires consisting entirely of the thermodynamically stable (in nanowires) wurtzite phase are produced, containing few stacking faults or twinning boundaries.  These and related studies will be presented.

Crystal-phase control in SLS-grown semiconductor quantum wires

248th National Meeting (2014)

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