Understanding the Morphological Evolution of InSb Nanoflags Synthesized in Regular Arrays by Chemical Beam Epitaxy

Abstract

InSb nanoflags are grown by chemical beam epitaxy in regular arrays on top of Au-catalyzed InP nanowires synthesized on patterned SiO2/InP(111)B substrates. Two-dimensional geometry of the nanoflags is achieved by stopping the substrate rotation in the step of the InSb growth. Evolution of the nanoflag length, thickness and width with the growth time is studied for different pitches (distances in one of the two directions of the substrate plane). A model is presented which explains the observed non-linear time dependence of the nanoflag length, saturation of their thickness and gradual increase in the width by the shadowing effect for re-emitted Sb flux. These results might be useful for morphological control of InSb and other III-V nanoflags grown in regular arrays.