Growth and application of planar III-V semiconductor nanowires grown with MOCVD

Fortuna, Seth A.

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/14730 Copy

Description

Title

Growth and application of planar III-V semiconductor nanowires grown with MOCVD

Author(s)

Fortuna, Seth A.

Issue Date

2010-01-06T16:42:03Z

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Li, Xiuling

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Li, Xiuling

Department of Study

Electrical & Computer Eng

Discipline

Electrical & Computer Engr

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

M.S.

Degree Level

Thesis

Keyword(s)

• Metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD)
• nanotechnology
• GaAs
• Metal-semiconductor field effect transistor (MESFET)
• nanowire
• semiconductor

Abstract

The semiconductor nanowire has been widely studied over the past decade and identified as a promising nanotechnology building block with application in photonics and electronics. The flexible bottom-up approach to nanowire growth allows for straightforward fabrication of complex 1D nanostructures with interesting optical, electrical, and mechanical properties. III-V nanowires in particular are useful because of their direct bandgap, high carrier mobility, and ability to form heterojunctions and have been used to make devices such as light-emitting diodes, lasers, and field-effect transistors. However, crystal defects are widely reported for III-V nanowires when grown in the common out-of-plane <111>B direction. Furthermore, commercialization of nanowires has been limited by the difficulty of assembling nanowires with predetermined position and alignment on a wafer-scale. In this thesis, planar III-V nanowires are introduced as a low-defect and integratable nanotechnology building block grown with metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. Planar GaAs nanowires grown with gold seed particles self-align along the <110> direction on the (001) GaAs substrate. Transmission electron microscopy reveals that planar GaAs nanowires are nearly free of crystal defects and grow laterally and epitaxially on the substrate surface. The nanowire morphology is shown to be primarily controlled through growth temperature and an ideal growth window of 470 +\- 10 °C is identified for planar GaAs nanowires. Extension of the planar growth mode to other materials is demonstrated through growth of planar InAs nanowires. Using a sacrificial layer, the transfer of planar GaAs nanowires onto silicon substrates with control over the alignment and position is presented. A metal-semiconductor field-effect transistor fabricated with a planar GaAs nanowire shows bulk-like low-field electron transport characteristics with high mobility. The aligned planar geometry and excellent material quality of planar III-V nanowires may lead to highly integrated III-V nanophotonics and nanoelectronics.

Graduation Semester

2009-12

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/14730

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2009 Seth A Fortuna; Copyright 2009 IEEE; Copyright 2008 American Chemical Society

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