Mengqi Fu

Controlled Synthesis of Phase-Pure InAs Nanowires on Si(111) by Diminishing the Diameter to 10 nm

Here we report the growth of phase-pure InAs nanowires on Si (111) substrates by molecular-beam epitaxy using Ag catalysts. A conventional one-step catalyst annealing process is found to give rise to InAs nanowires with diameters ranging from 4.5 to 81 nm due to the varying sizes of the Ag droplets, which reveal strong diameter dependence of the crystal structure. In contrast, a novel two-step catalyst annealing procedure yields vertical growth of highly uniform InAs nanowires ∼10 nm in diameter. Significantly, these ultrathin nanowires exhibit a perfect wurtzite crystal structure, free of stacking faults and twin defects. Using these high-quality ultrathin InAs nanowires as the channel material of metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor, we have obtained a high ION/IOFF ratio of ∼10(6), which shows great potential for application in future nanodevices with low power dissipation.

Transversally and axially tunable carbon nanotube resonators in situ fabricated and studied inside a scanning electron microscope.

We report a new design of carbon nanotube (CNT) resonator, whose resonance frequency can be tuned not only transversally by a gate voltage, but also by the axial strain applied through directly pulling the CNT. The resonators are fabricated from individual suspended single-walled CNT (SWCNT) in situ inside a scanning electron microscope. The resonance frequency of a SWCNT resonator can be tuned by more than 20 times with an increase of quality factor when the axial strain of the SWCNT is only increased from nearly zero to 2% at room temperature. The transversal gate-tuning ability is found to be weaker than the axial-tuning ability and decrease with increasing the axial strain. The gate voltage can hardly tune the resonance frequency when the initial axial strain is larger than 0.35% and the CNT acts like a tied string. The relationship among resonance frequency, gate voltage, and initial axial strain of the CNT obtained presently will allow for the designs of CNT resonators with high frequency and large tuning range. The present resonator also shows ultrahigh sensitivity in displacement and force detection, with a resolution being better than 2.4 pm and 0.55 pN, respectively.

Electrical characteristics of field-effect transistors based on indium arsenide nanowire thinner than 10 nm

To suppress short channel effects, lower off-state leakage current and enhance gate coupling efficiency, InAs nanowires (NWs) with diameter smaller than 10 nm could be needed in field-effect transistors (FETs) as the channel length scales down to tens of nanometers to improve the performance and increase the integration. Here, we fabricate and study FETs based on ultrathin wurtzite-structured InAs NWs, with the smallest NW diameter being 7.2 nm. The FETs based on ultrathin NWs exhibit high Ion/Ioff ratios of up to 2 × 108, small subthreshold swings of down to 120 mV/decade, and operate in enhancement-mode. The performance of the devices changes as a function of the diameter of the InAs NWs. The advantages and challenges of the FETs based on ultrathin NWs are discussed.

A Nano-Stripe Based Sensor for Temperature Measurement at the Submicrometer and Nano Scales

Submicrometer dual-stripe temperature sensors made from a single piece of metal thin film (e.g., Pd) are developed. With the narrowest sensor being 900 nm in width, they show sensitivity of 1-2 μV/K for the full range of 10-300 K. The results confirm the size effect in Seebeck coefficient previously observed in microstripe sensors of the same device configuration.

Crystal Phase- and Orientation-Dependent Electrical Transport Properties of InAs Nanowires

We report a systematic study on the correlation of the electrical transport properties with the crystal phase and orientation of single-crystal InAs nanowires (NWs) grown by molecular-beam epitaxy. A new method is developed to allow the same InAs NW to be used for both the electrical measurements and transmission electron microscopy characterization. We find both the crystal phase, wurtzite (WZ) or zinc-blende (ZB), and the orientation of the InAs NWs remarkably affect the electronic properties of the field-effect transistors based on these NWs, such as the threshold voltage (VT), ON-OFF ratio, subthreshold swing (SS) and effective barrier height at the off-state (ΦOFF). The SS increases while VT, ON-OFF ratio, and ΦOFF decrease one by one in the sequence of WZ ⟨0001⟩, ZB ⟨131⟩, ZB ⟨332⟩, ZB ⟨121⟩, and ZB ⟨011⟩. The WZ InAs NWs have obvious smaller field-effect mobility, conductivities, and electron concentration at VBG = 0 V than the ZB InAs NWs, while these parameters are not sensitive to the orientation of the ZB InAs NWs. We also find the diameter ranging from 12 to 33 nm shows much less effect than the crystal phase and orientation on the electrical transport properties of the InAs NWs. The good ohmic contact between InAs NWs and metal remains regardless of the variation of the crystal phase and orientation through temperature-dependent measurements. Our work deepens the understanding of the structure-dependent electrical transport properties of InAs NWs and provides a potential way to tailor the device properties by controlling the crystal phase and orientation of the NWs.

Switching from Negative to Positive Photoconductivity toward Intrinsic Photoelectric Response in InAs Nanowire

Negative photoconductivity (NPC) and positive photoconductivity (PPC) are observed in the same individual InAs nanowires grown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition. NPC displays under weak light illumination due to photoexcitation scattering centers charged with hot carrier in the native oxide layer. PPC is observed under high light intensity. Through removing the native oxide layer and passivating the nanowire with HfO2, we eliminate the NPC effect and realize intrinsic photoelectric response in InAs nanowire.

Contact properties of field-effect transistors based on indium arsenide nanowires thinner than 16 nm.

With the scaling down of field effect transistors (FETs) to improve performance, the contact between the electrodes and the channel becomes more and more important. Contact properties of FETs based on ultrathin InAs NWs (with the diameter ranging from sub-7 nm to 16 nm) are investigated here. Chromium (Cr) and nickel (Ni) are proven to form ohmic contact with the ultrathin InAs NWs, in contrast to a recent report (Razavieh A et al ACS Nano 8 6281). Furthermore, the contact resistance is found to depend on the NW diameter and the contact metals, which between Cr and InAs NWs increases more rapidly than that between Ni and InAs NWs when the NW diameter decreases. The origins of the contact resistance difference for the two kinds of metals are studied and NixInAs is believed to play an important role. Based on our results, it is advantageous to use Ni as contact metal for ultrathin NWs. We also observe that the FETs are still working in the diffusive regime even when the channel length is scaled down to 50 nm.

A sub-200 nanometer wide 3D stacking thin-film temperature sensor

We developed a series of thin-film thermocouples (TFTCs) made from Cr, Au, and Pd long stripes with a width of 90–300 nm and a 10 nm insulating HfO2 layer. The sensors have a three-dimensional sandwich structure, therefore reducing the total width down to 138 nm. Their sensitivity (thermopower) values were measured to be 9.6 ± 0.7 μV K−1 for the Cr/HfO2/Pd sensors and 3.6 ± 0.1 μV K−1 for the Au/HfO2/Pd sensors. These sensors showed reproducible and reliable measurement performance with a good temperature resolution of 0.04–0.1 K and a small heat capacity of 3.2–3.5 × 10−14 J per K per micron length, making them promising candidates for applications in electronic devices, microfluidic systems, and single cell or sub-cell detection as built-in sensors.

A platform for in-situ multi-probe electronic measurements and modification of nanodevices inside a transmission electron microscope

We developed a new platform that enables in-situ four-probe electronic measurements, in-situ three-probe field-effect measurements, nanomanipulation, and in-situ modification of nanodevices inside a transmission electron microscope (TEM). The platform includes a specially designed chip-holder and a silicon (Si) chip with suspended metal electrodes. The chip-holder can hold one Si chip with a size up to 3 mm × 3 mm and provides four electrical connections that can be connected to the micrometer-sized electrodes on the Si chip by wire-bonding. The other side of the electrical connections on the chip-holder is connected to the electronic instruments outside the TEM through a commercial Nanofactory SPM-TEM holder. The Si chip with suspended metal electrodes on one of its edges was fabricated by lithography and wet etching. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs), InAs nanowires, and tungsten disulfide nanowires were placed to stride over and connect to the suspended electrodes on the Si chip by nanomanipulations inside a scanning electron microscope (SEM). By using the platform, I-V curves of an individual single-walled CNT connecting to four electrodes were in-situ measured between any two of the four suspended electrodes, and a high-resolution TEM image of the same CNT was obtained. Furthermore, four-terminal I-V measurement on an InAs nanowire was achieved on this platform, and with a movable probe used as a gate electrode, field-effect measurement on the same InAs nanowire device was accomplished in SEM. In addition, by using the movable probe on the SPM-TEM holder, we could further in-situ modify nanomaterial and nanodevices. The present work demonstrates a method that allows a direct correlation between the atomic-level structure and the electronic property of nanomaterials or nanodevices whose structure can be further modified in-situ.

In situ multiproperty measurements of individual nanomaterials in SEM and correlation with their atomic structures.

The relationship between property and structure is one of the most important fundamental questions in the field of nanomaterials and nanodevices. Understanding the multiproperties of a given nano-object also aids in the development of novel nanomaterials and nanodevices. In this paper, we develop for the first time a comprehensive platform for in situ multiproperty measurements of individual nanomaterials using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Mechanical, electrical, electromechanical, optical, and photoelectronic properties of individual nanomaterials, with lengths that range from less than 200 nm to 20 μm, can be measured in situ with an SEM on the platform under precisely controlled single-axial strain and environment. An individual single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) was measured on the platform. Three-terminal electronic measurements in a field effect transistor structure showed that the SWCNT was semiconducting and agreed with the structure characterization by transmission electron microscopy after the in situ measurements. Importantly, we observed a bandgap increase of this SWCNT with increasing axial strain, and for the first time, the experimental results quantitatively agree with theoretical predictions calculated using the chirality of the SWCNT. The vibration performance of the SWCNT, a double-walled CNT, and a triple-walled CNT were also studied as a function of axial strain, and were proved to be in good agreement with classical beam theory, although the CNTs only have one, two, or three atomic layers, respectively. Our platform has wide applications in correlating multiproperties of the same individual nanostructures with their atomic structures.