Synthesis of Mn-doped indium antimonide nanowires by multi-step depositions and annealing

A novel approach to the synthesis of Mn-doped InSb nanowires is demonstrated in this work. We first report on the preparation of InSb nanowires without high temperature treatment. Indium nanowires are grown by glance angle deposition and then coated with a layer of Sb. Single crystalline InSb nanowires are obtained by annealing In/Sb nanostructures at 200 °C. Triple-layer In/Mn/Sb nanostructures are formed by the similar three-step depositions. Mn-doped InSb nanowires are prepared by annealing In/Mn/Sb nanostructures. Transmission electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy are used to analyze the structure and elemental distribution of the nanostructures. Our result shows that Mn-doped InSb nanowires can be achieved by employing solid reaction at low annealing temperature.