A study of n-doping in self-catalyzed GaAsSb nanowires using GaTe dopant source and ensemble nanowire near-infrared photodetector

Abstract

Abstract This work reports a comprehensive investigation of the effect of gallium telluride (GaTe) cell temperature variation (TGaTe) on the morphological, optical, and electrical properties of doped-GaAsSb nanowires (NWs) grown by Ga-assisted molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). These studies led to an optimum doping temperature of 550 °C for the growth of tellurium (Te)-doped GaAsSb NWs with the best optoelectronic and structural properties. Te incorporation resulted in a decrease in the aspect ratio of the NWs causing an increase in the Raman longitudinal optical/transverse optical vibrational mode intensity ratio, large photoluminescence emission with an exponential decay tail on the high energy side, promoting tunnel-assisted current conduction in ensemble NWs and significant photocurrent enhancement in the single nanowire. A Schottky barrier photodetector (PD) using Te-doped ensemble NWs with broad spectral range and a longer wavelength cutoff at ∼1.2 µm was demonstrated. These PDs exhibited responsivity in the range of 580–620 A W−1 and detectivity of 1.2–3.8 × 1012 Jones. The doped GaAsSb NWs have the potential for further improvement, paving the path for high-performance near-infrared (NIR) photodetection applications.