Synthesis of group III antimonide nanowires

Synthesis of nanowires of Group III antimonides (GaSb and InSb) is studied in detail using two approaches: (i) direct antimonidization of Group III metal droplets and (ii) reactive vapor transport of Group III metals in the presence of antimony in the vapor phase. The diameter of the GaSb nanowires ranged from 30 to 700 nm and length from a few to hundreds of micrometers. GaSb nanowires as long as 1 millimeter have been synthesized using direct antimonidization of large (several millimeters) sized gallium droplets. Reactive vapor transport of Group III metals in the presence of antimony in the vapor phase led to the formation of homoepitaxially oriented GaSb nanowire arrays on top of GaSb crystals. In the case of InSb, 100-nm-thick nanowires were obtained by direct antimonidization of indium droplets. Optical and electrical measurements of the GaSb nanowires, performed using photoluminescence and scanning tunneling spectroscopy, reveal a band gap of ∼0.72 eV, similar to that of bulk GaSb.