MBE growth of ultrathin III–V nanowires on a highly mismatched SiC/Si(111) substrate

The possibility in principle of growing III–V GaAs, AlGaAs, and InAs nanowires (NWs) on a silicon substrate with a nanometer buffer layer of silicon carbide is demonstrated for the first time. The diameter of these NWs is smaller than that of similar NWs grown on a silicon substrate. In particular, the minimum diameter is less than 10 nm for InAs NWs. In addition, it was assumed on the basis of photoluminescence measurements that, when AlGaAs NWs are grown on these substrates, a complex structure is formed due to the self-organized formation of AlGaAs quantum dots with a lower content of aluminum, embedded in the NWs.