Role of Thermodynamics and Kinetics in the Composition of Ternary III-V Nanowires

• Main Authors: Egor D. Leshchenko, Jonas Johansson
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-12-01
• Series: Nanomaterials
• Subjects: composition; ternary nanowires; quaternary liquid melts; Au-catalyzed; modelling
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-4991/10/12/2553

We explain the composition of ternary nanowires nucleating from a quaternary liquid melt. The model we derive describes the evolution of the solid composition from the nucleated-limited composition to the kinetic one. The effect of the growth temperature, group V concentration and Au/III concentration ratio on the solid-liquid dependence is studied. It has been shown that the solid composition increases with increasing temperature and Au concentration in the droplet at the fixed In/Ga concentration ratio. The model does not depend on the site of nucleation and the geometry of monolayer growth and is applicable for nucleation and growth on a facet with finite radius. The case of a steady-state (or final) solid composition is considered and discussed separately. While the nucleation-limited liquid-solid composition dependence contains the miscibility gap at relevant temperatures for growth of In<em>_x</em>Ga_1-<em>x</em>As NWs, the miscibility gap may be suppressed completely in the steady-state growth regime at high supersaturation. The theoretical results are compared with available experimental data via the combination of the here described solid-liquid and a simple kinetic liquid-vapor model.