Preheating temperature and growth temperature dependence of InP nanowires grown by self-catalytic VLS mode on InP substrate

•InP nanowires were successfully grown on an InP(111)B substrate by self-catalytic VLS mode.•InP nanowire characteristics are discussed as a function of the preheating and growth temperatures.•The nanowire density was dependent on the preheating temperature.•The total growth volume was mainly dependent on the growth temperature.

InP nanowires were successfully grown on an InP(111)B substrate by low pressure metal organic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE) using an indium catalyst. The self-catalytic vapor–liquid–solid (VLS) mode was used to obtain high quality nanowires where a deposited indium droplet acts as the catalyst instead of a metal particle, as with the conventional VLS mode. The nanowire characteristics are discussed as a function of the preheating and growth temperatures used with this method. InP nanowires vertically aligned on (111) orientation were obtained and the nanowire density was dependent on the preheating temperature, while the total growth volume was mainly dependent on the growth temperature. From these results, the optimal growth conditions to produce InP nanowires with small diameter, high density, and lower dispersion have been determined.