Analytical description of nanowires. I. Regular cross sections for zincblende and diamond structures
At a Glance
Section titled āAt a Glanceā| Metadata | Details |
|---|---|
| Publication Date | 2019-09-03 |
| Journal | Acta Crystallographica Section B Structural Science Crystal Engineering and Materials |
| Authors | Dirk Kƶnig, Sean C. Smith |
| Institutions | UNSW Sydney, RWTH Aachen University |
| Citations | 7 |
Abstract
Section titled āAbstractāSemiconductor nanowires (NWires) experience stress and charge transfer from their environment and impurity atoms. In response, the environment of a NWire experiences a NWire stress response which may lead to propagated strain and a change in the shape and size of the NWire cross section. Here, geometric number series are deduced for zincblende- (zb-) and diamond-structured NWires of diameter d Wire to obtain the numbers of NWire atoms N Wire ( d Wire [ i ]), bonds between NWire atoms N bnd ( d Wire [ i ]) and interface bonds N IF ( d Wire [ i ]) for six high-symmetry zb NWires with the low-index faceting that occurs frequently in both bottom-up and top-down approaches of NWire processing. Along with these primary parameters, the specific lengths of interface facets, the cross-sectional widths and heights and the cross-sectional areas are presented. The fundamental insights into NWire structures revealed here offer a universal gauge and thus could enable major advancements in data interpretation and understanding of all zb- and diamond-structure-based NWires. This statement is underpinned with results from the literature on cross-section images from III-V core-shell NWire growth and on Si NWires undergoing self-limiting oxidation and etching. The massive breakdown of impurity doping due to self-purification is shown to occur for both Si NWires and Si nanocrystals (NCs) for a ratio of N bnd / N Wire = N bnd / N NC = 1.94 Ā± 0.01 using published experimental data.