Effect of Growth Parameters and Substrate Surface Preparation for High-Density Vertical GaAs/GaAsSb Core–Shell Nanowires on Silicon with Photoluminescence Emission at 1.3 μm

GaAs/GaAsSb nanowire (NW) arrays are ideally suited to meet the demands of the next generation infrared (IR) photodetectors with potential for improving detection. NWs in a core–shell geometry have the advantage of providing axial direction for a long optical path for enhanced optical absorption and a short radial path for charge diffusion and collection. For the Ga-assisted molecular beam epitaxial growth of vertical, dense and uniform GaAs core NWs on Si (111), the effects of substrate surface preparation in combination with growth parameter variation were examined. On the epiready substrate without any surface preparation, both initial Ga shutter opening duration and V/III beam equivalent pressure ratio play a vital role in achieving almost all vertical NWs with moderate density ~107 cm−2. Also the spatial uniformity of the NWs was poor. Substrate surface preparation by chemical cleaning followed by oxidation in air led to highly vertical and uniform NWs with high density (8 × 108 cm−2). The GaAsSb shell was then successfully grown around the highly dense and vertical core GaAs NWs at growth temperatures ranging from 550°C to 590°C. It was found that growth temperature has a strong influence on Sb incorporation in the NWs and, hence, the NW morphology and 4K photoluminescence (PL) spectra. The presence of x-ray diffraction peaks corresponding to (111) reflection only and its higher-order reflections attest to the vertical alignment of NWs. Strain in the NWs as estimated using the Williamson–Hall isotropic strain model increases with Sb incorporation, which results in bending of the NWs with increasing Sb. Structural properties of these NWs using scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) are also presented. The temperature dependence PL of the NWs exhibited “S-curve” behavior, which is a well-known signature of localized excitons and a room temperature band edge PL emission occurring at ~1.3 μm.