In-situ X-ray diffraction during Au-assisted growth of GaAs nanowires

Kozu, Miwa; Hu, W.; Nakata, Yuka*; Takahashi, Masamitsu

Nanowires of GaAs and InAs are known to often adopt the wurtzite (WZ) structure instead of the zincblende (ZB) structure which is the most stable in the bulk. The variation in the crystal structure of nanowires is interesting not only from the viewpoint of crystal growth fundamentals but also from the device applications. In this paper, in situ X-ray diffraction results revealing the transition from ZB to WZ during growth is presented. Experiments were performed on the synchrotron radiation beamline 11XU at SPring-8 using molecular beam epitaxy chamber integrated with a surface X-ray diffractometer. It was found that nanowire growth began with formation of the ZB structure. The transition from ZB to WZ was found to be delayed by increasing the growth temperature.