Quantitative Determination of How Growth Conditions Affect the 3D Composition of InGaAs Nanowires

Covering a broad optical spectrum, ternary In x Ga 1− x As nanowires, grown by bottom-up methods, have been receiving increasing attention due to the tunability of the bandgap via In composition modulation. However, inadequate knowledge about the correlation between growth and properties restricts our ability to take advantage of this phenomenon for optoelectronic applications. Here, three different InGaAs nanowires were grown under different experimental conditions and atom probe tomography was used to quantify their composition, allowing the direct observation of the nanowire composition associated with the different growth conditions.