GaSb nanowires grown on a Si substrate and nanolaminatate TiO2/Ag/TiO2 structure

• A thermal evaporation method is used to grow GaSb NWs using Ag catalyst particles. • GaSb grown on a Si surface consists of nanowires and islands of different sizes. • Mostly nanowires are grown on nanolaminate transparent TiO 2 /Ag/TiO 2 structure. • Raman spectra reveal narrow GaSb- LO and TO lines at 235 and 225 cm −1 , respectively. This paper presents a comparative study of GaSb nanowire (NWs) growth on a Si substrate using Ag nanoparticles as catalyst and on a Si substrate coated with a transparent conductive TiO 2 /Ag/TiO 2 laminate structure. Silver nanoparticles with different sizes between 30 and 70 nm were formed directly on Si surface or embedded between two TiO 2 layers by RF magnetron sputtering. A thermal evaporation method was used to grow GaSb NWs via vapor–liquid-solid (VLS) mechanism. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) were used to study the surface morphology of the grown structures. Two kinds of nanostructures were observed on the surface of the Ag/Si substrate: nanowires and nanoislands of different sizes and random position, while mostly nanowires were visible for GaSb grown on TiO 2 /Ag/TiO 2 /Si substrate. Raman spectroscopy measurements were used to investigate vibrational mods and phonon confinement in the grown nanostructures. The results demonstrate that TiO 2 /Ag/TiO 2 / nanolaminate structure is a promising substrate for nanowires growth. The technology for obtaining this nanolaminate structure allows the formation of local areas with micron dimensions, using a mask as a pattern structure during the deposition of Ag nanoparticles.