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Maria Messing. Portrait.

Maria Messing

Professor

Maria Messing. Portrait.

Strong Schottky barrier reduction at Au-catalyst/GaAs-nanowire interfaces by electric dipole formation and Fermi-level unpinning

Author

  • Dmitry Suyatin
  • Vishal Jain
  • Valery A Nebol’sin
  • Johanna Trägårdh
  • Maria Messing
  • Jakob Wagner
  • Olof Persson
  • Rainer Timm
  • Anders Mikkelsen
  • Ivan Maximov
  • Lars Samuelson
  • Håkan Pettersson
Show all

Summary, in English

Nanoscale contacts between metals and semiconductors are critical for further downscaling of electronic and optoelectronic devices. However, realizing nanocontacts poses significant challenges since conventional approaches to achieve ohmic contacts through Schottky barrier suppression are often inadequate. Here we report the realization and characterization of low n-type Schottky barriers (~0.35 eV) formed at epitaxial contacts between Au-In alloy catalytic particles and GaAs-nanowires. In comparison to previous studies, our detailed characterization, employing selective electrical contacts defined by high-precision electron beam lithography, reveals the barrier to occur directly and solely at the abrupt interface between the catalyst and nanowire. We attribute this lowest-to-date-reported Schottky barrier to a reduced density of pinning states (~1017 m−2) and the formation of an electric dipole layer at the epitaxial contacts. The insight into the physical mechanisms behind the observed low-energy Schottky barrier may guide future efforts to engineer abrupt nanoscale electrical contacts with tailored electrical properties.

Department/s

  • Solid State Physics
  • Synchrotron Radiation Research
  • Centre for Analysis and Synthesis
  • NanoLund: Centre for Nanoscience

Publishing year

2014

Language

English

Publication/Series

Nature Communications

Volume

5

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Nature Publishing Group

Topic

  • Condensed Matter Physics (including Material Physics, Nano Physics)
  • Nano-technology

Keywords

  • Schottky nanocontact
  • catalytic nanoparticle
  • nanoelectronic device
  • photodetector
  • electron beam lithography
  • high-precision alignment
  • scanning tunneling microscopy

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 2041-1723