Nanowires Grown by Beam Epitaxy
Semiconductor nanowires (NWs) are attracting wide interest due to their unique physical properties and potential for application in nanodevices. NWs can be obtained by a number of growth methods, and their highly anisotropic growth originates by the presence of a metal particle, the catalyst, that determines the position and the diameter of the nanostructure. The most widely used catalyst is gold. The growth mechanism of catalyst assisted nanowires involves the incorporation of material both impinging on the catalyst particle and diffusing from the free substrate surface to the sidewalls of the wire. The interplay of these two phenomena is critical especially for the growth of alloy semiconductor compound NWs and one dimensional (1-D) heterostructure.
