RESUMEN
Cathodoluminescence mapping is used as a contactless method to probe the electron concentration gradient of Te-doped GaAs nanowires. The room temperature and low temperature (10 K) cathodoluminescence analysis method previously developed for GaAs:Si is first validated on five GaAs:Te thin film samples, before extending it to the two GaAs:Te NW samples. We evidence an electron concentration gradient ranging from below 1 × 1018cm-3to 3.3 ×1018cm-3along the axis of a GaAs:Te nanowire grown at 640 °C, and a homogeneous electron concentration of around 6-8 × 1017cm-3along the axis of a GaAs:Te nanowire grown at 620 °C. The differences in the electron concentration levels and gradients between the two nanowires is attributed to different Te incorporation efficiencies by vapor-solid and vapor-liquid-solid processes.
RESUMEN
The performance of Ohmic contacts applied to semiconductor nanowires (NWs) is an important aspect for enabling their use in electronic or optoelectronic devices. Due to the small dimensions and specific surface orientation of NWs, the standard processing technology widely developed for planar heterostructures cannot be directly applied. Here, we report on the fabrication and optimization of Pt/Ti/Pt/Au Ohmic contacts for p-type GaAs nanowires grown by molecular beam epitaxy. The devices were characterized by current-voltage (IV) measurements. The linearity of the IV characteristics curves of individual nanowires was optimized by adjusting the layout of the contact metal layers, the surface treatment prior to metal evaporation, and post-processing thermal annealing. Our results reveal that the contact resistance is remarkably decreased when a Pt layer is deposited on the GaAs nanowire prior to the traditional Ti/Pt/Au multilayer layout used for p-type planar GaAs. These findings are explained by an improved quality of the metal-GaAs interface, which was evidenced by grazing incidence X-ray diffraction measurements in similar metallic thin films deposited on GaAs (110) substrates. In particular, we show that Ti exhibits low degree of crystallinity when deposited on GaAs (110) surface which directly affects the contact resistance of the NW devices. The deposition of a thin Pt layer on the NWs prior to Ti/Pt/Au results in a 95% decrease in the total electrical resistance of Be-doped GaAs NWs which is associated to the higher degree of crystallinity of Pt than Ti when deposited directly on GaAs (110).
RESUMEN
Effective and controllable doping is instrumental for enabling the use of III-V semiconductor nanowires (NWs) in practical electronics and optoelectronics applications. To this end, dopants are incorporated during self-catalyzed growth via vapor-liquid-solid mechanism through the catalyst droplet or by vapor-solid mechanism of the sidewall growth. The interplay of these mechanisms together with the competition between axial elongation and radial growth of NWs can result in dopant concentration gradients along the NW axis. Here, we report an investigation of Be-doped p-type GaAs NWs grown by the self-catalyzed method on lithography-free Si/SiO x templates. The influence of dopant incorporation on the structural properties of the NWs is analyzed by scanning and transmission electron microscopy. By combining spatially resolved Raman spectroscopy and transport characterization, we are able to estimate the carrier concentration, mobility and resistivity on single-NW level. We show that Be dopants are incorporated predominantly by vapor-solid mechanism for low Be flux, while the relative contribution of vapor-liquid-solid incorporation is increased for higher Be flux, resulting in axial dopant gradients that depend on the nominal doping level.
