Vapor-liquid-solid growth and Sb doping of Ge nanowires from a liquid Au-Sb-Ge ternary alloy

Single-crystalline Sb-doped Ge nanowires (NWs) with excellent structural properties and uniform composition have been synthesized with high yield by vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) growth by low-temperature thermal evaporation from a mixture of Ge and Sb powders. During deposition, both the Ge and the Sb dopant became incorporated in the VLS seed nanoparticle. In situ annealing experiments during transmission electron microscopy establish that a liquid ternary Au- Sb-Ge alloy constitutes the active phase of the VLS seed drop at high temperatures, which governs the growth of the one-dimensional Ge NW and its doping by Sb. © Springer-Verlag 2009.