We study random telegraph noise in the conductance of InAs nanowire field-effect transistors due to single electron trapping in defects. The electron capture and emission times are measured as functions of temperature and gate voltage for individual traps, and are consistent with traps residing in the few-nanometer-thick native oxide, with a Coulomb barrier to trapping. These results suggest that oxide removal from the nanowire surface, with proper passivation to prevent regrowth, should lead to the reduction or elimination of random telegraph noise, an important obstacle for sensitive experiments at the single electron level.
Evidence is given for the effectiveness of InAs surface passivation by the growth of an epitaxial InAlAs shell. The electron mobility is measured as a function of temperature for both core-shell and unpassivated nanowires, with the core-shell nanowires showing a monotonic increase in mobility as temperature is lowered, in contrast to a turnover in mobility seen for the unpassivated nanowires. We argue that this signifies a reduction in low temperature ionized impurity scattering for the passivated nanowires, implying a reduction in surface states.
We report on the heterogeneous nucleation of catalyst-free InAs nanowires on Si (111) substrates by chemical beam epitaxy. We show that nanowire nucleation is enhanced by sputtering the silicon substrate with energetic particles. We argue that particle bombardment introduces lattice defects on the silicon surface that serve as preferential nucleation sites. The formation of these nucleation sites can be controlled by the sputtering parameters, allowing the control of nanowire density in a wide range. Nanowire nucleation is accompanied by unwanted parasitic islands, but by careful choice of ann…
We use polarized photocurrent spectroscopy in a nanowire device to investigate the band structure of hexagonal Wurtzite InAs. Signatures of optical transitions between four valence bands and two conduction bands are observed which are consistent with the symmetries expected from group theory. The ground state transition energy identified from photocurrent spectra is seen to be consistent with photoluminescence emitted from a cluster of nanowires from the same growth substrate. From the energies of the observed bands we determine the spin orbit and crystal field energies in Wurtzite InAs. This …
Ability to understand and model the performance limits of nanowire transistors is the key to design of next generation devices. Here, we report studies on high-mobility junction-less gate-all-around nanowire field effect transistor with carrier mobility reaching 2000 cm2/V.s at room temperature. Temperature-dependent transport measurements reveal activated transport at low temperatures due to surface donors, while at room temperature the transport shows a diffusive behavior. From the conductivity data, the extracted value of sound velocity in InAs nanowires is found to be an order less than th…
The experimental assessment of the strength ($α_R$) of the Rashba spin-orbit coupling is rather indirect and involves the measurement of the spin relaxation length from magnetotransport, together with a model of weak antilocalization. The analysis of the spin relaxation length in nanowires, however, clouds the experimental assessment of the $α_R$ and leads to the prevailing belief that it can be tuned freely with electric field--a central tenant of spintronics. Here, we report direct theory of $α_R$ leading to atomistic calculations of the spin band structure of InAs nanowires upon application…
We report electrical characterization of quantum dots formed by introducing pairs of thin wurtzite (WZ) segments in zinc blende (ZB) InAs nanowires. Regular Coulomb oscillations are observed over a wide gate voltage span, indicating that WZ segments create significant barriers for electron transport. We find a direct correlation of transport properties with quantum dot length and corresponding growth time of the enclosed ZB segment. The correlation is made possible by using a method to extract lengths of nanowire crystal phase segments directly from scanning electron microscopy images, and wit…
We investigate monocrystalline InAs nanowires (NWs) which are grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) and induced by focused ion beam (FIB) implanted Au spots. With this unique combination of methods an increase of the aspect ratio, i.e. the length to width ratio, of the grown NWs up to 300 was achieved. To control the morphology and crystalline structure of the NWs, the growth parameters like temperature, flux ratios and implantation fluence are varied and optimized. Furthermore, the influence of the used molecular arsenic species, in particular the As$_2$ to As$_4$ ratio, is investigated and a…
The [111]-oriented InAs/GaSb and GaSb/InAs core-shell nanowires have been studied by the $8\times 8$ Luttinger-Kohn $\vec{k}\cdot\vec{p}$ Hamiltonian to search for non-vanishing fundamental gaps between inverted electron and hole bands. We focus on the variations of the topologically nontrivial fundamental gap, the hybridization gap, and the effective gap with the core radius and shell thickness of the nanowires. The evolutions of all the energy gaps with the structural parameters are shown to be dominantly governed by quantum size effects. With a fixed core radius, a topologically nontrivial …
To clarify the ultrafast temporal interplay of the different photocurrent mechanisms occurring in single InAs-nanowire-based circuits, an on-chip photocurrent pump-probe spectroscopy based on coplanar striplines was utilized. The data are interpreted in terms of a photo-thermoelectric current and the transport of photogenerated holes to the electrodes as the dominating ultrafast photocurrent contributions. Moreover, it is shown that THz radiation is generated in the optically excited InAs-nanowires, which is interpreted in terms of a dominating photo-Dember effect. The results are relevant for…
We report on half-integer Shapiro steps observed in an InAs nanowire Josephson junction. We observed the Shapiro steps of the short ballistic InAs nanowire Josephson junction and found anomalous half-integer steps in addition to the conventional integer steps. The half-integer steps disappear as the temperature increases or transmission of the junction decreases. These experimental results agree closely with numerical calculation of the Shapiro response for the skewed current phase relation in a short ballistic Josephson junction.
The combination of strong spin-orbit coupling, large $g$-factors, and the coupling to a superconductor can be used to create a topologically protected state in a semiconductor nanowire. Here we report on growth and characterization of hybrid epitaxial InAsSb/Al nanowires, with varying composition and crystal structure. We find the strongest spin-orbit interaction at intermediate compositions in zincblende InAs$_{1-x}$Sb$_{x}$ nanowires, exceeding that of both InAs and InSb materials, confirming recent theoretical studies \cite{winkler2016topological}. We show that the epitaxial InAsSb/Al inter…
We report on \textit{in situ} growth of crystalline Al and Nb shells on InAs nanowires. The nanowires are grown on Si(111) substrates by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) without foreign catalysts in the vapor-solid mode. The metal shells are deposited by electron-beam evaporation in a metal MBE. High quality supercondonductor/semiconductor hybrid structures such as Al/InAs and Nb/InAs are of interest for ongoing research in the fields of gateable Josephson junctions and quantum information related research. Systematic investigations of the deposition parameters suitable for metal shell growth are …
The combination of core/shell geometry and band gap engineering in nanowire heterostructures can be employed to realize systems with novel transport and optical properties. Here, we report on the growth of InAs/InP/GaAsSb core-dual-shell nanowires by catalyst-free chemical beam epitaxy on Si(111) substrates. Detailed morphological, structural, and compositional analyses of the nanowires as a function of growth parameters were carried out by scanning and transmission electron microscopy and by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Furthermore, by combining the scanning transmission electron mic…
We constructed the Hamiltonian of spin-orbit splitting for carriers of a tubular electron gas in InAs nanowires. The spectral problem is solved using an exact numerical diagonalization. It is shown that the contribution of k-linear Dresselhaus-like spin-orbit (SO) coupling leads to renormalization of so-called SO-gaps and appearance of anticrossings in subband spectrum. These features can be detected in ballistic transport.
We report in-situ synthesis of crystalline indium islands on InAs nanowires grown by molecular beam epitaxy. Structural analysis by transmission electron microscopy showed that In crystals grew in a tetragonal body-centred crystal structure within two families of orientations relative to wurtzite InAs. The crystalline islands had lengths < 500 nm and low-energy surfaces, suggesting that growth was driven mainly by surface energy minimization. Electrical transport through In/InAs devices exhibited Cooper pair charging, evidencing charge parity preservation and a pristine In/InAs interface, with…
We report on growth of InP-InAs core-shell nanowires and demonstration of the formation of single quantum structures, which show Coulomb blockade effect, over entire lengths of the nanowires. The core-shell nanowires are grown by a selective area growth technique via metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy. The as-grown core-shell nanowires are found to be of wurtzite crystals. The InP cores have a hexagonal cross section, while the InAs shell are grown preferentially on specific {1$\bar{1}$00} facets, leading to the formation of the core-shell nanowires with an overall triangular cross section. The…
We investigate the optoelectronic properties of single indium arsenide nanowires, which are grown vertically on p-doped silicon substrates. We apply a scanning photocurrent microscopy to study the optoelectronic properties of the single heterojunctions. The measured photocurrent characteristics are consistent with an excess charge carrier transport through mid-gap trap states, which form at the Si/InAs heterojunctions. Namely, the trap states add an additional transport path across a heterojunction, and the charge of the defects changes the band bending at the junction. The bending gives rise …
In this work we theoretically explore the effect of dimensionality on the thermoelectric power factor of InAs nanowires by coupling atomistic tight-binding calculations to the Linearized Boltzmann transport formalism. We consider nanowires with diameters from 40nm (bulk-like) down to 3nm (1D), which allows for the proper exploration of the power factor within a unified large-scale atomistic description across a large diameter range. We find that as the diameter of the nanowires is reduced below d < 10 nm, the Seebeck coefficient increases substantially, a consequence of strong subband quantiza…
We report the graded electronic band gap along the axis of individual heterostructured WZ-ZB InAs/InSb0.12As0.88 nanowires. Resonance Raman imaging has been exploited to map the axial variation in the second excitation gap energy (E1) at the high symmetry point (L point) of the Brillouin zone. We relate the origin of the observed evolution of the gap energy to the fine tuning of the alloy composition from the tip towards the interface of the nanowire. The electronic band structures of InAs, InSb and InSbxAs1-x alloy systems at x=0.125, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75 and 0.875, using all electron density fun…
We report fabrication and measurement of a device where closely-placed two parallel InAs nanowires (NWs) are contacted by source and drain normal metal electrodes. Established technique includes selective deposition of double nanowires onto a previously defined gate region. By tuning the junction with the finger bottom gates, we confirmed the formation of parallel double quantum dots, one in each NW, with a finite electrostatic coupling between each other. With the fabrication technique established in this study, devices proposed for more advanced experiments, such as Cooper-pair splitting and…
Surface energies play a dominant role in the self-assembly of three dimensional (3D) nanostructures. In this letter, we show that using surfactants to modify surface energies can provide a means to externally control nanostructure self-assembly, enabling the synthesis of novel hierarchical nanostructures. We explore Bi as a surfactant in the growth of InAs on the {1-10} sidewall facets of GaAs nanowires. The presence of surface Bi induces the formation of InAs 3D islands by a process resembling the Stranski-Krastanov mechanism, which does not occur in the absence of Bi on these surfaces. The I…
We report the operation of a field-effect transistor based on a single InAs nanowire gated by an ionic liquid. Liquid gating yields very efficient carrier modulation with a transconductance value thirty time larger than standard back gating with the SiO2 /Si++ substrate. Thanks to this wide modulation we show the controlled evolution from semiconductor to metallic-like behavior in the nanowire. This work provides the first systematic study of ionic-liquid gating in electronic devices based on individual III-V semiconductor nanowires: we argue this architecture opens the way to a wide range of …
We report growth and characterization of a coupled quantum dot structure that utilizes nanowire templates for selective epitaxy of radial heterostructures. The starting point is a zinc blende InAs nanowire with thin segments of wurtzite structure. These segments have dual roles: they act as tunnel barriers for electron transport in the InAs core, and they also locally suppress growth of a GaSb shell, resulting in coaxial InAs-GaSb quantum dots with integrated electrical probes. The parallel quantum dot structure hosts spatially separated electrons and holes that interact due to the type-II bro…
We report on experimental detection of the spin-orbit interaction field in an InAs nanowire double quantum dot device. In the spin blockade regime, leakage current through the double quantum dot is measured and is used to extract the effects of spin-orbit interaction and hyperfine interaction on spin state mixing. At finite magnetic fields, the leakage current arising from the hyperfine interaction is suppressed and the spin-orbit interaction dominates spin state mixing. We observe dependence of the leakage current on the applied magnetic field direction and determine the direction of the spin…
We demonstrate direct measurements of the spin-orbit interaction and Landé g factors in a semiconductor nanowire double quantum dot. The device is made from a single-crystal pure-phase InAs nanowire on top of an array of finger gates on a Si/SiO$_2$ substrate and the measurements are performed in the Pauli spin-blockade regime. It is found that the double quantum dot exhibits a large singlet-triplet energy splitting of $Δ_{ST}\sim 2.3$ meV, a strong spin-orbit interaction of $Δ_{SO}\sim 140$ $μ$eV, and a large and strongly level-dependent Landé g factor of $\sim 12.5$. These results imply that…
With downscaling of electronic circuits, components based on semiconductor quantum dots are assuming increasing relevance for future technologies. Their response under external stimuli intrinsically depend on their quantum properties. Here we investigate single-electron tunneling in hard-wall InAs/InP nanowires in the presence of an off-resonant microwave drive. Our heterostructured nanowires include InAs quantum dots (QDs) and exhibit different tunnel-current regimes. In particular, for source-drain bias up to few mV Coulomb diamonds spread with increasing contrast as a function of microwave …
We investigate the proximity effect in InAs nanowire (NW) junctions with superconducting contacts made of Al. The carrier density in InAs is tuned by means of the back gate voltage $V_g$. At high positive $V_g$ the devices feature transport signatures characteristic of diffusive junctions with highly transparent interfaces - sizable excess current, re-entrant resistance effect and proximity gap values ($Δ_N$) close to the Al gap ($Δ_0$). At decreasing $V_g$, we observe a reduction of the proximity gap down to $Δ_N\approxΔ_0/2$ at NW conductances $\sim2e^2/h$, which is interpreted in terms of c…
A systematic numerical investigation of spin-orbit fields in the conduction bands of III-V semiconductor nanowires is performed. Zinc-blende InSb nanowires are considered along [001], [011], and [111] directions, while wurtzite InAs nanowires are studied along [0001] and [10$\overline{1}$0] or [11$\overline{2}$0] directions. Realistic multiband $\vec{k} \cdot \vec{p}\,$ Hamiltonians are solved by using plane-wave expansions of real-space parameters. In all cases the linear and cubic spin-orbit coupling parameters are extracted for nanowire widths from 30 to 100 nm. Typical spin-orbit energies …
