Influence of catalyst choices on transport behaviors of InAs NWs for high-performance nanoscale transistors

The influence of the catalyst materials on the electron transport behaviors of InAs nanowires (NWs) grown by a conventional vapor transport technique is investigated. Utilizing the NW field-effect transistor (FET) device structure, ∼20% and ∼80% of Au-catalyzed InAs NWs exhibit strong and weak gate dependence characteristics, respectively. In contrast, ∼98% of Ni-catalyzed InAs NWs demonstrate a uniform n-type behavior with strong gate dependence, resulting in an average OFF current of ∼10−10 A and a high ION/IOFF ratio of >104. The non-uniform device performance of Au-catalyzed NWs is mainly attributed to the non-stoichiometric composition of the NWs grown from a different segregation behavior as compared to the Ni case, which is further supported by the in situ TEM studies. These distinct electrical characteristics associated with different catalysts were further investigated by the first principles calculation. Moreover, top-gated and large-scale parallel-array FETs were fabricated with Ni-catalyzed NWs by contact printing and channel metallization techniques, which yield excellent electrical performance. The results shed light on the direct correlation of the device performance with the catalyst choice.