Thesis presented October 16, 2013
Abstract: Growth of Au-catalysed ZnSe NWs has been successfully achieved on ZnSe peudo-substrates grown on GaAs substrate for the 1st time. Nucleation of the gold catalyst nanoparticles was studied in details. Au nanoparticles with homogeneous diameters are achieved. The nanowire diameter that results from these nanoparticles is in the range of the Bohr diameter of excitons in ZnSe and CdSe. Ultralow density achieved for Au nanoparticles makes it possible to grow nanowires in a non-competitive mode. Study of the influence of the growth parameters was done in details. A high Se:Zn~4 flux ratio and a growth temperature in the low 400C range are found to yield the straightest NWs. Homogeneous NWs with two main orientations are obtained on (001) ZnSe. The nanowire growth rate can be modeled by a kinetic mass-transport model of impinging adatoms flowing to the nanowire growth front. ZnSe NW growth was identified as taking place in the VSS mode, that is, with a solid catalyst, by in-situ RHEED observations. A growth of NWs by ALE yields only a single NW orientation. Incorporation of CdSe QDs was studied in details with numerous experimental techniques. It is possible to obtain CdZnSe QDs with a length of a few nanometers with compositionally sharp heterojunctions and a composition in Cd of about 50%. The optical study of such NWs shows sharp excitonic lines. Single photon emission on the biexciton was measured up to room temperature. A limitation comes from the fact that the NWs must be detached from the surface to be studied due to the presence of a discreet background emission originating from the substrate.
Keywords: Single photons, Quantum dots, Semiconductors, Nanowires
On-line thesis.