Understanding self-aligned planar growth of InAs nanowires

Semiconducting nanowires have attracted lots of attention because of their potential applications. Compared with free-standing nanowires, self-aligned planar nanowires grown epitaxially on the substrate have shown advantageous properties such as being twin defect free and ready for device fabrication, opening potentials for the large-scale device applications. Understanding of planar nanowire growth, which is essential for selective growth of planar vs free-standing wires, is still limited. In this paper, we reported different growth behaviors for self-aligned planar and free-standing InAs nanowires under identical growth conditions. We present a new model based on a revised Gibbs–Thomson equation for the planar nanowires. Using this model, we predicted and successfully confirmed through experiments that higher arsenic vapor partial pressure promoted free-standing InAs nanowire growth. A smaller critical diameter for planar nanowire growth was predicted and achieved experimentally. Successful control and understanding of planar and free-standing nanowire growth established in our work opens up the potential of large-scale integration of self-aligned nanowires for practical device applications.