文摘
Controlling axial and radial dopant profiles in nanowires is of utmost importance for NW-based devices, as the formation of tightly controlled electrical junctions is crucial for optimization of device performance. Recently, inhomogeneous dopant profiles have been observed in vapor鈥搇iquid鈥搒olid grown nanowires, but the underlying mechanisms that produce these inhomogeneities have not been completely characterized. In this work, P-doping profiles of axially modulation-doped Si nanowires were studied using nanoprobe scanning Auger microscopy and Kelvin probe force microscopy in order to distinguish between vapor鈥搇iquid鈥搒olid doping and the vapor鈥搒olid doping. We find that both mechanisms result in radially inhomogeneous doping, specifically, a lightly doped core surrounded by a heavily doped shell structure. Careful design of dopant modulation enables the contributions of the two mechanisms to be distinguished, revealing a surprisingly strong reservoir effect that significantly broadens the axial doping junctions.
Keywords:
Nanowires; VLS; doping; nanoprobe scanning Auger microscopy; Kelvin probe force microscopy