Lazarevicite-type short-range ordering in ternary III-V nanowires

M. Schnedler, I. Lefebvre, T. Xu, V. Portz, G. Patriarche, J.-P. Nys, S. R. Plissard, P. Caroff, M. Berthe, H. Eisele, R. E. Dunin-Borkowski, Ph. Ebert, and B. Grandidier

Phys. Rev. B 94, 195306 – Published 14 November 2016

Abstract

Stabilizing ordering instead of randomness in alloy semiconductor materials is a powerful means to change their physical properties. We used scanning tunneling and transmission electron microscopies to reveal the existence of an unrecognized ordering in ternary III-V materials. The lazarevicite short-range order, found in the shell of ${InAs}_{1 - x} {Sb}_{x}$ nanowires, is driven by the strong Sb-Sb repulsion along $〈 110 〉$ atomic chains during their incorporation on unreconstructed ${110}$ sidewalls. Its spontaneous formation under group-III-rich conditions of growth offers the prospect to broaden the limited classes of ordered structures occurring in III-V semiconductor alloys.

Received 20 June 2016
Revised 9 October 2016

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.94.195306

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Crystal structure

Nanowires

Density functional theory Scanning tunneling microscopy Transmission electron microscopy

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

M. Schnedler¹, I. Lefebvre², T. Xu^2,3, V. Portz¹, G. Patriarche⁴, J.-P. Nys², S. R. Plissard^2,5, P. Caroff^2,6, M. Berthe², H. Eisele⁷, R. E. Dunin-Borkowski¹, Ph. Ebert¹, and B. Grandidier²

¹Peter Grünberg Institut, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, 52425 Jülich, Germany
²Département ISEN, Institut d'Electronique, de Microélectronique et de Nanotechnologie (IEMN), CNRS, UMR 8520, 41 Boulevard Vauban, 59046 Lille Cedex, France
³Key Laboratory of Advanced Display and System Application, Shanghai University, 149 Yanchang Road, Shanghai 200072, People's Republic of China
⁴Laboratoire de Photonique et de Nanostructures (LPN), CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, route de Nozay, 91460 Marcoussis, France
⁵Laboratoire d'Analyse et d'Architecture des Systèmes (LAAS), CNRS, Université de Toulouse, 7 Avenue du Colonel Roche, 31400 Toulouse, France
⁶Department of Electronic Materials Engineering, Research School of Physics and Engineering, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 0200, Australia
⁷Institut für Festkörperphysik, Technische Universität Berlin, Hardenbergstrasse 36, 10623 Berlin

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Issue

Vol. 94, Iss. 19 — 15 November 2016

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Images

Figure 1
(a) Schematic of a $[\bar{1} \bar{1} \bar{1}]$ grown ${InAs}_{0.90} {Sb}_{0.10} / InAs$ nanowire. (b) Atomically resolved constant-current STM image of the sidewall surface measured at 77 K ( $- 3 V$ sample voltage and 10 pA tunnel current). The image shows the filled dangling bond states above the surface anions. The bright atomically localized contrast features arise from Sb atoms incorporated on anion sites. Twin boundaries are marked by dashed vertical lines. The inset [marked I in (b)]: high-resolution STM image ( $- 2 V, 700 pA$ ) of one ${Sb}_{As}$ atom in the surface layer. The location of the atomic zigzag chain of alternating anion and cations is indicated by a ball model. (c) High-resolution STM image ( $- 2 V, 700 pA$ ) of area II in (b). Sb atoms in the first layer ( ${Sb}_{1}$ ) and third layer ( ${Sb}_{3}$ ) are visible. Local lazarevicite- [12] and CuPt-type ordered areas are labeled (i) and (ii), respectively. (d) and (e) illustrate the respective atomic models. (f) Spatial distribution of CuPt (blue) and lazarecivite (red) SROs.
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Figure 2
(a) Two-dimensional pair correlation function $c (x, y)$ 's of Sb atoms in ${InAs}_{0.90} {Sb}_{0.10}$ NWs measured on the ${110}$ sidewall facet. Values above (below) 1 indicate a higher (lower) than statistically expected occurrence of Sb pairs (scale on the right). (b) Mean force potential $W (r) = - k T ln [c (x, y)]$ derived from the experimentally measured PCF. (c) Calculated two-dimensional pair interaction energy of Sb pairs. (d) Comparison of the experimental (open symbols, right scale) and calculated (filled symbols, left scale) pair interaction energies along the [110] direction. (e) Lazarevicite crystal structure with indications of the ordering ( ${\underset{̲}{v}}_{O} = [001]$ ) and anticorrelation ( ${\underset{̲}{v}}_{AO} = [110]$ ) vectors on a ${110}$ plane. The cubic unit cell is indicated on the right side.
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Figure 3
(a) Atomically-resolved scanning transmission electron microscopy image in the high-angle annular dark-field (HAADF) mode of an ${InAs}_{0.84} {Sb}_{0.16}$ nanowire along a $〈 110 〉$ zone axis. The magnified inset shows the dumbbell structure of the atomic columns. The square marks the area used for the FFT shown in (b). Two types of ordering spots occur, labeled $[001] / [00 \bar{1}]$ and $[110] / [\bar{1} \bar{1} 0]$ . (c) HAADF-STEM images of a ZB ${InAs}_{0.84} {Sb}_{0.16}$ NW segment. The concentration of Sb atoms with respect to the anion concentration was measured by XEDS point scan analyses in the areas marked in red.
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Figure 4
(a) Schematic of the growth of ${InAs}_{1 - x} {Sb}_{x}$ nanowires. The shell growth on the ${110}$ sidewalls of a $[\bar{1} \bar{1} \bar{1}]$ -oriented nanowire occurs through step flow motion of $〈 112 〉$ -oriented steps. (b) and (c) Atomic models of the Sb incorporation at the step edge on the sidewall surface. Sb cannot be incorporated in the atomic zigzag chains [position 2 in (b)] if another Sb rests on the neighboring anion lattice site of the same chain (position 1). Hence, the new Sb atom is deviated into the neighboring chain (e.g., position 3), leading to a [001] ordering vector.
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