Controlling the polarity of metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy-grown GaP on Si(111) for subsequent III-V nanowire growth

Nanowire growth on heteroepitaxial GaP/Si(111) by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy requires the [-1-1-1] face, i.e., GaP(111) material with B-type polarity. Low-energy electron diffraction (LEED) allows us to identify the polarity of GaP grown on Si(111), since (2×2) and (1×1) surface reconstructions are associated with GaP(111)A and GaP(111)B, respectively. In dependence on the pre-growth treatment of the Si(111) substrates, we were able to control the polarity of the GaP buffers. GaP films grown on the H-terminated Si(111) surface exhibited A-type polarity, while GaP grown on Si surfaces terminated with arsenic exhibited a (1×1) LEED pattern, indicating B-type polarity. We obtained vertical GaAs nanowire growth on heteroepitaxial GaP with (1×1) surface reconstruction only, in agreement with growth experiments on homoepitaxially grown GaP(111).