Stacking-Faults-Free Zinc Blende GaAs Nanowires

We have used two different growth approaches in order to obtain stacking faults free zinc blende GaAs nanowires by molecular beam epitaxy, using the gold assisted vapor-liquid-solid growth method. Both approaches are based on inducing low supersaturation conditions in the vicinity of the growing wires, which favor the crystallization in the zinc blende crystal structure over the wurtzite one. A double distribution of gold droplets produced on the (111)B surface in the first approach and a highly terraced (311)B growth surface in the second approach avoid the commonly observed structural transition to wurtzite. Since the zinc blende structure is slightly more stable than the wurtzite one, a perfect crystal structure is maintained along the entire growth.