Structural investigation of GaInP nanowires using X-ray diffraction

D Kriegner; J M Persson; T Etzelstorfer; D Jacobsson; J Wallentin; J B Wagner; K Deppert; M T Borgström; J Stangl

doi:10.1016/j.tsf.2013.02.112

Structural investigation of GaInP nanowires using X-ray diffraction

Thin Solid Films. 2013 Sep 30;543(100):100-105. doi: 10.1016/j.tsf.2013.02.112.

Authors

D Kriegner¹, J M Persson, T Etzelstorfer, D Jacobsson, J Wallentin, J B Wagner, K Deppert, M T Borgström, J Stangl

Affiliation

¹ Institute of Semiconductor and Solid State Physics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Altenbergerstr. 69, A-4040 Linz, Austria.

Abstract

In this work the structure of ternary Ga _x In_{1 - x} P nanowires is investigated with respect to the chemical composition and homogeneity. The nanowires were grown by metal-organic vapor-phase epitaxy. For the investigation of ensemble fluctuations on several lateral length scales, X-ray diffraction reciprocal space maps have been analyzed. The data reveal a complicated varying materials composition across the sample and in the nanowires on the order of 20%. The use of modern synchrotron sources, where beam-sizes in the order of several 10 μm are available, enables us to investigate compositional gradients along the sample by recording diffraction patterns at different positions. In addition, compositional variations were found also within single nanowires in X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy measurements.

Keywords: III–V semiconductors; Nanowires; X-ray diffraction.