Fabrication of InP nano pillars by ECR Ar ion irradiation

TL;DR

This paper reports the fabrication of InP nano pillars using ECR Ar+ ion irradiation, analyzing their morphology, growth direction, and crystalline structure, with potential for damage-free transfer and detailed compositional analysis.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method for fabricating crystalline InP nano pillars with controlled orientation and morphology via ECR Ar+ ion irradiation, and characterizes their structural and compositional properties.

Findings

Nano pillars have average width of 50 nm and length of 500 nm.

Growth direction aligns with the reflection of the ion beam.

Nano pillars are nearly crystalline with a slight amorphous surface layer.

Abstract

Regular arrays of InP nano pillars have been fabricated by low energy Electron Cyclotron Resonance (ECR) Ar+ ion irradiation on InP(111) surface. Several scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images have been utilized to invetsigate the width, height, and orientation of these nano pillars on InP(111) surfaces. The average width and length of these nano-pillars are about 50 nm and 500 nm, respectively. The standing angle with respect to the surface of the nano-pillars depend on the incidence angle of the Ar ion irradiation during the fabrication process. Interestingly, the growth direction of the nano pillars are along the reflection direction of the ion beam and the standing angles are nearly same as the ion incidence angle with the surface normal. This nano-pillas are easily transferred from the InP surface to double sided carbon tape without any damage. High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HRTEM) study of single nano-pillar reveals that this nano-pillar are almost crystalline in nature except 2-4 nm amorphous layer on the outer surface. The transmission electron microscopy combined with energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (TEM-EDS) analysis of these nano pillars exhibit that the ratio of In and P is little higher compared to the bulk InP.