Writers: R.C. Gouveia and H. Kamimura and R. Munhoz and A.D. Rodrigues and E.R. Leite and A.J. Chiquito
Keywords: Nanostructures; Semiconductors; Raman spectroscopy; Transport properties
Abstract: Germanium nanowires have been synthesized by the well known vapor-liquid-solid growth mechanism using gold, silver, cooper, indium and nickel as catalyst metals. The influence of metal seeds on nanowires structural and electronic transport properties was also investigated. Electron microscopy images demonstrated that, despite differences in diameters, all nanowires obtained presented single crystalline structures. X-ray patterns showed that all nanowires were composed by germanium with a small amount of germanium oxide, and the catalyst metal was restricted at the nanowires’ tips. Raman spectroscopy evidenced the long range order in the crystalline structure of each sample. Electrical measurements indicated that variable range hopping was the dominant mechanism in carrier transport for all devices, with similar hopping distance, regardless the material used as catalyst. Then, in spite of the differences in synthesis temperatures and nanowires diameters, the catalyst metals have not affected the composition and crystalline quality of the germanium nanowires nor the carrier transport in the germanium nanowire network devices.
