Growth of Gold-assisted Gallium Arsenide Nanowires on Silicon Substrates via Molecular Beam Epitaxy

Gallium arsenide nanowires were grown on silicon (100) substrates by what is called the vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) growth mechanism using a molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) system. Good quality nanowires with surface density of approximately 108 nanowires per square centimeter were produced by utilizing gold nanoparticles, with density of 1011 nanoparticles per square centimeter, as catalysts for nanowire growth. X-ray diffraction measurements, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy revealed that the nanowires are epitaxially grown on the silicon substrates, are oriented along the [111] direction and have cubic zincblende structure.