Ion beam doping of semiconductor nanowires

This review summarizes recent studies on ion implantation doping of semiconductor nanowires and discusses both the advantages and disadvantages compared to other doping approaches in detail. Furthermore, we give a guideline in both handling samples and performing ion-beam doping experiments for the nanosized objects and address the special needs of semiconductor nanowires in comparison to their bulk counterparts. The confined geometry leads to an enhanced sputtering yield, but also to an enhanced dynamic annealing effect; thus, a different structural impact of the ions, which can be even used for an alignment of the nanowires. The removal of the implantation damage is a crucial prerequisite for successful activation of implanted atoms and can be achieved via adequate annealing techniques, which are described in this review. Finally, we will report on several successful experiments in order to modify the electrical and optical properties in a controlled manner of silicon and compound semiconductor nanowires. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.