Issue 13, 2015

Unique features of laterally aligned GeSi nanowires self-assembled on the vicinal Si (001) surface misoriented toward the [100] direction

Abstract

We demonstrate laterally aligned and catalyst-free GeSi nanowires (NWs) via self-assembly of Ge on miscut Si (001) substrates toward the [100] direction by an angle θ (θ < 11°). The NWs are bordered by (001) and (105) facets, which are thermodynamically stable. By tuning the miscut angle θ, the NW height can be easily modulated with a nearly constant width. The thickness of the wetting layer beneath the NWs also shows a peculiar behavior with a minimum at around 6°. An analytical model, considering the variation of both the surface energy and the strain energy of the epilayer on vicinal surfaces with the miscut angle and layer thickness, shows good overall agreement with the experimental results. It discloses that both the surface energy and stain energy of the epilayer on vicinal surfaces can be considerably affected in the same trend by the surface steps. Our results not only shed new light on the growth mechanism during heteroepitaxial growth, but also pave a prominent way to fabricate and meanwhile modulate laterally aligned and dislocation-free NWs.

Graphical abstract: Unique features of laterally aligned GeSi nanowires self-assembled on the vicinal Si (001) surface misoriented toward the [100] direction

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
16 Dec 2014
Accepted
23 Feb 2015
First published
26 Feb 2015

Nanoscale, 2015,7, 5835-5842

Author version available

Unique features of laterally aligned GeSi nanowires self-assembled on the vicinal Si (001) surface misoriented toward the [100] direction

T. Zhou, G. Vastola, Y. Zhang, Q. Ren, Y. Fan and Z. Zhong, Nanoscale, 2015, 7, 5835 DOI: 10.1039/C4NR07433E

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