Nonpolar-Oriented Wurtzite InP Nanowires with Electron Mobility Approaching the Theoretical Limit

As an important semiconductor nanomaterial, InP nanowires (NWs) grown with a typical vapor–liquid–solid mechanism are still restricted from their low electron mobility for practical applications. Here, nonpolar-oriented defect-free wurtzite InP NWs with electron mobility of as high as 2000 cm2 V–1 s–1 can be successfully synthesized via Pd-catalyzed vapor–solid–solid growth. Specifically, PdIn catalyst particles are involved and found to expose their PdIn{210} planes at the InP nucleation frontier due to their minimal lattice mismatch with nonpolar InP{2110} and {1100} planes. This appropriate lattice registration would then minimize the overall free energy and enable the highly crystalline InP NW growth epitaxially along the nonpolar directions. Because of the minimized crystal defects, the record-high electron mobility of InP NWs (i.e., 2000 cm2 V–1 s–1 at an electron concentration of 1017 cm–3) results, being close to the theoretical limit of their bulk counterparts. Furthermore, once the top-gated d...