Self-catalyzed growth of GaAs nanowires on silicon by HVPE

We report on the first self-catalyzed growth of GaAs nanowires on patterned and non-patterned silicon (111) wafers by hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE) with a record elongation rate of 30 μm/h. The crystalline structure was analyzed using high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). Self-catalyzed growth proceeds under gallium rich conditions at low-temperature (600 °C). Nanowires exhibit cylindrical rod-like shape morphology with a mean diameter of 50 nm and are randomly distributed.