This work reports a comprehensive investigation of the effect of gallium telluride (GaTe) cell temperature variation (TGaTe) on the morphological, optical, and electrical properties of doped-GaAsSb nanowires (NWs) grown by Ga-assisted molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). These studies led to an optimum doping temperature of 550 °C for the growth of tellurium (Te)-doped GaAsSb NWs with the best optoelectronic and structural properties. Te incorporation resulted in a decrease in the aspect ratio of the NWs causing an increase in the Raman longitudinal optical/transverse optical vibrational mode intensity ratio, large photoluminescence emission with an exponential decay tail on the high energy side, promoting tunnel-assisted current conduction in ensemble NWs and significant photocurrent enhancement in the single nanowire. A Schottky barrier photodetector (PD) using Te-doped ensemble NWs with broad spectral range and a longer wavelength cutoff at ∼1.2 µm was demonstrated. These PDs exhibited responsivity in the range of 580–620 A W−1 and detectivity of 1.2–3.8 × 1012 Jones. The doped GaAsSb NWs have the potential for further improvement, paving the path for high-performance near-infrared (NIR) photodetection applications.

We report the first study on doping assessment in Te-doped GaAsSb nanowires (NWs) with variation in Gallium Telluride (GaTe) cell temperature, using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS), conductive-atomic force microscopy (C-AFM), and scanning Kelvin probe microscopy (SKPM). The NWs were grown using Ga-assisted molecular beam epitaxy with a GaTe captive source as the dopant cell. Te-incorporation in the NWs was associated with a positive shift in the binding energy of the 3d shells of the core constituent elements in doped NWs in the XPS spectra, a lowering of the work function in doped NWs relative to undoped ones from UPS spectra, a significantly higher photoresponse in C-AFM and an increase in surface potential of doped NWs observed in SKPM relative to undoped ones. The carrier concentration of Te-doped GaAsSb NWs determined from UPS spectra are found to be consistent with the values obtained from simulated I–V characteristics. Thus, these surface analytical tools, XPS/UPS and C-AFM/SKPM, that do not require any sample preparation are found to be powerful characterization techniques to analyze the dopant incorporation and carrier density in homogeneously doped NWs.

In this work, the first observation of the space charge limited conduction mechanism (SCLC) in GaAsSb nanowires (NWs) grown by Ga-assisted molecular beam epitaxial technique, and the effect of ultra-high vacuum in situ annealing have been investigated. The low onset voltage of the SCLC in the NW configuration has been advantageously exploited to extract trap density and trap distribution in the bandgap of this material system, using simple temperature dependent current–voltage measurements in both the ensemble and single nanowires. In situ annealing in ultra-high vacuum revealed significant reduction in the trap density from 1016 cm−3 in as-grown NWs to a low level of 7 × 1014 cm−3 and confining wider trap distribution to a single trap depth at 0.12 eV. A comparison of current conduction mechanism in the respective single nanowires using conductive atomic force microscopy (C-AFM) further confirms the SCLC mechanism identified in GaAsSb ensemble device to be intrinsic. Higher current observed in current mapping by C-AFM, increased 4 K photoluminescence (PL) intensity along with reduced full-width half maxima and more symmetric PL spectra, and reduced asymmetrical broadening with increased TO/LO mode in room temperature Raman spectra for in situ annealed NWs again attest to effective annihilation of traps leading to the improved optical quality of NWs compared to as-grown NWs. Hence, the I–V–T analysis of the SCLC mechanism has been demonstrated as a simple approach to obtain information on growth induced traps in the NWs.

Band gap engineering of GaAsSbN nanowires (NWs) grown by Ga-assisted molecular beam epitaxy and demonstration of a Te-doped axial GaAsSbN NW-based Schottky barrier photodetector on p-Si (111) in the near-infrared region are reported. Stringent control on NW nucleation conditions, stem growth duration, and NW exposure to the N-plasma were found to be critical for the successful growth of high-quality dilute nitride quaternary GaAsSbN NWs in the axial configuration. Planar defect-free structures were realized with room temperature photoluminescence (PL) characteristics, revealing reduced N-induced point defects and nonradiative recombination centers. N incorporation in the dilute nitride NWs was ascertained from PL and Raman spectral mode shifts and shapes and weak temperature-dependent PL peak energy. The advantage of Te-doping in dilute nitride NWs using a GaTe captive source is the compensation of point defects, as evidenced by a significant improvement in PL characteristics, Raman mode shifts, and spectral shape, with improved photodetector device performance relative to intrinsic dilute nitride NWs. Te-doped GaAsSbN NW Schottky-based photodetectors have been demonstrated on both single and ensemble configurations with a resultant responsivity of 5 A/W at 860 nm and 3800 A/W at 1100, respectively. Detectivity of 3.2 × 10 10 Jones was achieved on the Te-doped ensemble NW device. The findings presented in this work showcase prospects for rich band gap engineering using doped GaAsSbN NWs for near-infrared region device applications.

We report on the Be-dopant assessment in Ga-assisted molecular beam epitaxially grown nanowires using conductive-atomic force microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy.