Compositional Correlation between the Nanoparticle and the Growing Au-Assisted InxGa1-xAs Nanowire

The nanowire geometry is favorable for the growth of ternary semiconductor materials, because the composition and properties can be tuned freely without substrate lattice matching. To achieve precise control of the composition in ternary semiconductor nanowires, a deeper understanding of the growth is required. One unknown aspect of seeded nanowire growth is how the composition of the catalyst nanoparticle affects the resulting composition of the growing nanowire. We report the first in situ measurements of the nanoparticle and InxGa1-xAs nanowire compositional relationship using an environmental transmission electron microscopy setup. The compositions were measured and correlated during growth, via X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy. Contrary to predictions from thermodynamic models, the experimental results do not show a miscibility gap. Therefore, we construct a kinetic model that better predicts the compositional trends by suppressing the miscibility gap. The findings imply that compositional control of InxGa1-xAs nanowires is possible across the entire compositional range.

Automated summary

The nanowire geometry is favored for ternary semiconductor growth due to the flexibility in tuning composition and properties without requiring substrate lattice matching. The composition control of InxGa1-xAs nanowires was studied with in situ measurements using environmental transmission electron microscopy, revealing a different compositional relationship than predicted by thermodynamic models. A kinetic model was constructed to predict compositional trends by suppressing miscibility gaps, suggesting compositional control across the entire range is achievable.