Gallium-assisted growth of InSb nanowire

Indium antimony (InSb) nanowires have been synthesized by chemical vapor deposition and we found that adding gallium as the other evaporation resource can increase the density of nanowires and no doping pollution. For the growth of InSb nanowire, Au film was annealed to form Au nanoparticles as catalysts and explain its catalytic principle. We thought that gallium which coated on the surface of Au nanoparticles assisted nucleation and growth of InSb nanowire in the early stage. The diameter of the InSb nanowires was 60–100nm and 1-5μm in length. The grown nanowires have good crystallinity. We found that the surface of InSb was oxidized, and the main oxide was indium oxide. We discovered the tip morphologies of nanowires are different and discussed the causes of this phenomenon in detail.