Influence of substrate orientation on the structural properties of GaAs nanowires in MOCVD

Abstract

In this study, the effect of substrate orientation on the structural properties of GaAs nanowires grown by a metal organic chemical vapor deposition has been investigated. Gold colloids were used as catalyst to initiate the growth of nanowiresby the vapour-liquid-solid (VLS) mechanism. From the field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), the growth of the nanowires were at an elevation angle of 90°, 60°, 65° and 35° with respect to the GaAs substrate for (111)B, (311)B, (110) and (100) orientations respectively. The preferential NW growth direction is always <111>B. High-resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM) micrograph showed the NWs that grew on the GaAs(111)B has more structural defects when compared to others. Energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) indicated the presence of Au, Ga and As. The bigger diameter NWs dominates the (111)B substrate surface.