Novel chemical-vapor deposition technique for the synthesis of high-quality single-crystal nanowires and nanotubes

The strength and versatility of a chemical-vapor deposition technique for thin, long, uniform, single-crystal, good-quality nanowire growth, without the use of template, have been described. Remarkably, while the full width at half maximum of a high-quality GaN thin film is 4 meV, that of a GaN whisker is 9 meV, which confirms high quality of the grown whiskers and nanowires. The versatility of the method is reflected by its ability to produce II-VI and III-V binary, ternary, and even, for the first time, quaternary nanowires in a controlled manner. The same versatility enables the realization of both cubic and hexagonal phases of nanowires and nanotubes. Chemical-vapor deposition technique generally makes use of highly poisonous arsine and phosphine for the synthesis of As- and P-based films. The present one is free from this shortcoming; it can produce As- and P-based nanowires without the use of these poisonous gases. A notable feature of the method is that properties of nanowires thus synthesized depend strongly on their shape, size, and geometry, and that certain growth conditions can only lead to such shapes and sizes.