p-type doping of GaAs nanowires using carbon

We report on the electrical properties of Au-catalyzed C-doped GaAs nanowires (NWs) grown by metal organic vapor phase epitaxy. Transport measurements were carried out using a tungsten nanoprobe inside a scanning electron microscope by contacting to the Au catalyst particle of individual nanowires. The doping level could be varied from approximately (4 ± 1) × 1016 cm−3 to (1.0 ± 0.3) × 1019 cm−3 by varying the molar flow of the gas phase carbon precursor, as well as the group V to group III precursor ratio. It was found that the current transport mechanism switches from generation-recombination to tunnelling field emission by increasing the doping level to 1 × 1019 cm−3. Based on a diameter-dependent analysis of the apparent resistivity of the C-doped NWs, we propose that C incorporates into GaAs NWs through the triple boundary at the Au/NW interface. The p-type conductivity of the C-doped NWs was inferred by observing a rectification at negative bias (applied to the Au electrode) and confirmed by back-gating measurements performed on field effect transistor devices.