Model of selective growth of III-V nanowires

A kinetic model of growth of nanowires of III-V semiconductor compounds (including nitride ones) in the absence of metal catalyst is proposed; these conditions correspond to the methods of selective epitaxy or self-induced growth. A stationary solution for the nanowire growth rate is obtained, which indicates that the growth can be limited by not only the kinetics of III-group element with allowance for the surface diffusion (as was suggested earlier), but also the flow of the V-group element. Different modes are characterized by radically different dependences of the growth rate on the nanowire radius. Under arsenicenriched conditions, a typical dependence with a maximum and decay at large radii (limited by the gallium adatom diffusion) is observed. Under gallium-enriched conditions, there is a transition to the growth rate that is practically independent of the radius and linearly increases with an increase in the arsenic flow.