Microheater Controlled Crystal Phase Engineering of Nanowires Using In Situ Transmission Electron Microscopy

Abstract

Crystal Phase Quantum Dots (CPQDs) offer promising properties for quantum communication. How CPQDs can be formed in Au-catalyzed GaAs nanowires using different precursor flows and temperatures by in situ environmental transmission electron microscopy (ETEM) experiments is studied. A III-V gas supply system controls the precursor flow and custom-built micro electro-mechanical system (MEMS) chips with monocrystalline Si-cantilevers are used for temperature control, forming a micrometer-scale metal–organic vapor phase epitaxy (µMOVPE) system. The preferentially formed crystal phases are mapped at different precursor flows and temperatures to determine optimal growth parameters for either crystal phase. To control the position and length of CPQDs, the time scale for crystal phase change is investigated. The micrometer size of the cantilevers allows temperature shifts of more than 100 °C within 0.1 s at the nanowire growth temperature, which can be much faster than the growth time for a single lattice layer. For controlling the crystal phase, the temperature change is found to be superior to precursor flow, which takes tens of seconds for the crystal phase formation to react. This µMOVPE approach may ultimately provide faster temperature control than bulk MOVPE systems and hence enable engineering sequences of CPQDs with quantum dot lengths and positions defined with atomic precision.