Growth of InAs nanowires with the morphology and crystal structure controlled by carrier gas flow rate

• The morphology and crystal structure can be controlled in the CVD growth of InAs nanowires on Si substrates.
• At a low flux rate of the carrier gas, nanowires grown are stacking-fault free ZB InAs nanowires.
• At a high flux rate of the carrier gas, the twin superlattice nanowires can be achieved.
• In a two-step process, the majority of the InAs nanowires obtained are those consisting of a section of stacking-fault free ZB structure and a section of twin superlattice structure.

We report on the growth of single crystal InAs nanowires on Si/SiOx substrates by chemical vapor deposition (CVD). Both pure zincblende InAs nanowires and twin superlattice InAs nanowires are produced. We demonstrate that the morphology and crystal structure of these nanowires can be controlled by tuning the H2 carrier gas flow rate in a CVD furnace and show that highly selected growth of twin superlattice nanowires are achieved at high carrier gas flow rates. Our work provides a new route to grow and phase-engineer single crystal InAs nanowires for a wide range of potential applications.