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We present results on the growth of CdTe-HgTe core-shell nanowires, a realization of a quasi one-dimensional heterostructure of the topological insulator HgTe. The growth is a two step process consisting of the growth of single crystalline zinc blende CdTe nanowires with the vapor-liquid-solid method and the overgrowth of these wires with HgTe such that a closed shell is formed around the CdTe core structure. The CdTe wire growth is monitored by RHEED allowing us to infer information on the crystal properties from the electron diffraction pattern. This information is used to find and control the optimal growth temperature. High quality single crystal CdTe nanowires grow with a preferred orientation. For the growth of the conductive HgTe shell structure we find that the supplied Hg:Te ratio is the crucial parameter to facilitate growth on all surface facets.
In this letter we report on proximity superconductivity induced in CdTe-HgTe core-shell nanowires, a quasi-one-dimensional heterostructure of the topological insulator HgTe. We demonstrate a Josephson supercurrent in our nanowires contacted with superconducting Al leads. The observation of a sizable $I_c R_n$ product, a positive excess current and multiple Andreev reflections up to fourth order further indicate a high interface quality of the junctions.
The role of the sublimation of the compound and of the evaporation of the constituents from the gold nanoparticle during the growth of semiconductor nanowires is exemplified with CdTe-ZnTe heterostructures. Operating close to the upper temperature limit strongly reduces the amount of Cd present in the gold nanoparticle and the density of adatoms on the nanowire sidewalls. As a result, the growth rate is small and strongly temperature dependent, but a good control of the growth conditions allows the incorporation of quantum dots in nanowires with sharp interfaces and adjustable shape, and it minimizes the radial growth and the subsequent formation of additional CdTe clusters on the nanowire sidewalls, as confirmed by photoluminescence. Uncapped CdTe segments dissolve into the gold nanoparticle when interrupting the flux, giving rise to a bulb-like (pendant-droplet) shape attributed to the Kirkendall effect.
We model shell formation of core-shell noble metal nanoparticles. A recently developed kinetic Monte Carlo approach is utilized to reproduce growth morphologies realized in recent experiments on core-shell nanoparticle synthesis, which reported smooth epitaxially grown shells. Specifically, we identify growth regimes that yield such smooth shells, but also those that lead to the formation of shells made of small clusters. The developed modeling approach allows us to qualitatively study the effects of temperature and supply the shell-metal atoms on the resulting shell morphology, when grown on a pre-synthesized nanocrystal core.
We use a new, quantum-mechanics-based bond-order potential (BOP) to reveal melt-growth dynamics and fine-scale defect formation mechanisms in CdTe crystals. Previous molecular dynamics simulations of semiconductors have shown qualitatively incorrect behavior due to the lack of an interatomic potential capable of predicting both crystalline growth and property trends of many transitional structures encountered during the melt $rightarrow$ crystal transformation. Here we demonstrate successful molecular dynamics simulations of melt-growth in CdTe using a BOP that significantly improves over other potentials on property trends of different phases. Our simulations result in a detailed understanding of defect formation during the melt-growth process. Equally important, we show that the new BOP enables defect formation mechanisms to be studied at a scale level comparable to empirical molecular dynamics simulation methods with a fidelity level approaching quantum-mechanical methods
Al(0.37)Ga(0.63)As nanowires (NWs) were grown in a molecular beam epitaxy system on GaAs(111)B substrates. Micro-photoluminescence measurements and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy indicated a core-shell structure and Al composition gradient along the NW axis, producing a potential minimum for carrier confinement. The core-shell structure formed during the growth as a consequence of the different Al and Ga adatom diffusion lengths.