Length Distributions of Binary and III-V Pseudobinary Semiconductor Nanowires

Abstract Length distributions (LDs) of nanowires (NWs) of elementary and III-V semiconductors are interesting from the fundamental viewpoint and for applications. Although statistical properties within the ensembles of III-V binary NWs were previously studied in great detail, nothing is known about the LDs of III-V ternary NWs. Here, we try to fill the gap by presenting a model of Poisson-type growth that applies equally well for binary AxB1-x and pseudobinary AxB1-xC NWs under C-rich conditions, where the vapor-solid distribution is given by the Langmuir-McLean formula. Six-parametric analytic LD is obtained and analyzed in the typical growth conditions of self-catalyzed GaPxAs1-x NWs at 630 °C and Au-catalyzed InPxAs1-x NWs at 405 °C. It is demonstrated that changing the NW composition by vapor fluxes has a dramatic effect on their length distribution and may result in 10-fold increase (decrease) of both the average length and variance. This effect originates from different incorporation rates of dissimilar atoms and should be taken into account in the morphological control over the NW length distributions.