Catalyst incorporation at defects during nanowire growth.

Hemesath, Eric R; Schreiber, Daniel K; Gulsoy, Emine B; Kisielowski, Christian F; Petford-Long, Amanda K; Voorhees, Peter W; Lauhon, Lincoln J · Nano Lett · 2012

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Scanning and transmission electron microscopy was used to correlate the structure of planar defects with the prevalence of Au catalyst atom incorporation in Si nanowires. Site-specific high-resolution imaging along orthogonal zone axes, enabled by advances in focused ion beam cross sectioning, reveals substantial incorporation of catalyst atoms at grain boundaries in <110> oriented nanowires. In contrast, (111) stacking faults that generate new polytypes in <112> oriented nanowires do not show preferential catalyst incorporation. Tomographic reconstruction of the catalyst-nanowire interface is used to suggest criteria for the stability of planar defects that trap impurity atoms in catalyst-mediated nanowires.

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