Bistability of Contact Angle and Its Role in Achieving Quantum-Thin Self-Assisted GaAs nanowires

Achieving quantum confinement by bottom-up growth of nanowires has so far been limited to the ability of obtaining stable metal droplets of radii around 10 nm or less. This is within reach for gold-assisted growth. Because of the necessity to maintain the group III droplets during growth, direct syn...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nano letters 2018-01, Vol.18 (1), p.49-57
Main Authors: Kim, Wonjong, Dubrovskii, Vladimir G, Vukajlovic-Plestina, Jelena, Tütüncüoglu, Gözde, Francaviglia, Luca, Güniat, Lucas, Potts, Heidi, Friedl, Martin, Leran, Jean-Baptiste, Fontcuberta i Morral, Anna
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:Achieving quantum confinement by bottom-up growth of nanowires has so far been limited to the ability of obtaining stable metal droplets of radii around 10 nm or less. This is within reach for gold-assisted growth. Because of the necessity to maintain the group III droplets during growth, direct synthesis of quantum sized structures becomes much more challenging for self-assisted III–V nanowires. In this work, we elucidate and solve the challenges that involve the synthesis of gallium-assisted quantum-sized GaAs nanowires. We demonstrate the existence of two stable contact angles for the gallium droplet on top of GaAs nanowires. Contact angle around 130° fosters a continuous increase in the nanowire radius, while 90° allows for the stable growth of ultrathin tops. The experimental results are fully consistent with our model that explains the observed morphological evolution under the two different scenarios. We provide a generalized theory of self-assisted III–V nanowires that describes simultaneously the droplet shape relaxation and the NW radius evolution. Bistability of the contact angle described here should be the general phenomenon that pertains for any vapor–liquid–solid nanowires and significantly refines our picture of how nanowires grow. Overall, our results suggest a new path for obtaining ultrathin one-dimensional III–V nanostructures for studying lateral confinement of carriers.
ISSN:1530-6984
1530-6992
DOI:10.1021/acs.nanolett.7b03126