The motivation of this study is to investigate the size dependent properties of Gadolinium silicide nanoparticles and their potential applications in Biomedicine. We use two approaches in our investigation - size dependence and possible exchange interaction in a core-shell structure. Past results showed Gd5Si4 NPs exhibit significantly reduced echo time compared to superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPION) when measured in a 7 T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system. This indicates potential use of Gd5Si4 ferromagnetic nanoparticles as T2 contrast agents for MRI. Until recently most contrast agents (CA) that are used in Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) studies have been paramagnetic. However, ferromagnetic CAs are potentially more sensitive as T2 CAs than T1 paramagnetic compounds due to their large magnetic moments. Furthermore, the need for better MRI images without the need of upgrading to the higher magnetic field strength can be achieved using better CA such as Gd5Si4 NP. The quality of the image contrast in MRI is improved by shortening T1 and T2 relaxation times at the site or close proximity to the CA. In this study, effect of Gd5Si4 NP of varying sizes and with different concentrations are investigated on T1, T2 and T2* (effective/observed T2) relaxations times. Further study was carried out on possible exchange interaction between Fe3O4 and Gd5Si4 to enhance the magnetic properties of the Gd5Si4 which could be later used to synthesize core-shell structures. Exchange interaction / bias is a phenomena associated with the exchange anisotropy created at the interface between the two magnetic materials. Therefore, thin films of varying thickness was deposited and studied for their magnetic properties.

Materials in smaller scales exhibit promising properties that are useful for wide variety of applications. Semiconductor quantum wells and quantum dots are two main examples of low-dimensional systems, where the quantum wells act as two-dimensional systems and the quantum dots act as zero-dimensional systems. Alternatively, semiconductor nanowires act as one-dimensional materials, and they exhibit promising and device applicable properties. These nanowires are relatively new class of materials compared to the quantum wells and the quantum dots. The semiconductor nanowires are expected to be the building blocks for future nanoelectronic and nano-optoelectronic device technology. Vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) mechanism is a widely used mechanism for the growth of semiconductor nanowires, where metal nanoparticles are used as the catalysts for the nanowires growth. This growth mechanism offers a flexibility to control the size, morphology and location of the semiconductor nanowires. In the VLS growth, changing the chemical composition of vapor constituents produce consequent compositional modulation in each nanowire. The compositional modulation along the nanowire axis produces axial nanowire heterostructures and in radial direction produces radial nanowire heterostructures. Such compositional modulation within an individual nanowire enables the designing of band structure of a nanowire and thereby allows the fabrication of single nanowire devices. These nanowire heterostructures show many potential properties and consequent applications. Although the semiconductor nanowire heterostructures are promising semiconductor nanostructures, the fundamental growth mechanisms of axial and radial nanowire heterostructures have not been explored sufficiently due to their complex nature of the growth. In this regard, this PhD thesis addresses the fundamental issues associated with axial and radial nanowire heterostructures. For such fundamental investigations, this PhD work chooses InAs/GaAs nanowire heterostructure system due to its potential applications. In fact, InAs/GaAs nanowire heterostructures are the first reported axial nanowire heterostructure system. However, no detailed investigations were reported on this system so far. The detailed nucleation and growth mechanisms associated with InAs/GaAs nanowire heterostructure system are explored in this thesis using electron microscopy investigations. This objective is achieved in the following steps. • InAs/GaAs nanowire heterostructures are grown using Au nanoparticles and metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) method. To determine the axial and radial growth evolution of InAs on GaAs nanowires, different InAs/GaAs nanowire heterostructures are produced by depositing InAs for different durations on GaAs nanowires. The GaAs nanowires are initially grown for 30 min and then the InAs is deposited on these nanowires for 1, 3, 5 and 30 min. • These InAs/GaAs nanowire heterostructures are subjected to scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) investigations. These investigations determine that, in the initial stages of the InAs axial growth (1 min), the Au particles move sidewards and subsequently downwards by maintaining an interface with the GaAs nanowire. Such a movement of Au catalysts is attributed to lower Au/GaAs interfacial energy than Au/InAs. The detailed TEM investigations show that this Au movement depends upon the crystallographic nature of the GaAs nanowire. The Au particle is always tend to move towards {112}B sidewall of the GaAs nanowire rather than its {112}A sidewalls. Increase in InAs growth duration shows that InAs branches evolve from GaAs-InAs core-shell structures. Such evolution is observed in following steps: (1) the movement of Au particle terminates when it encounters the radially grown InAs on GaAs nanowires; (2) further growth of InAs leads to the InAs nanowire growth from those terminated Au nanoparticles in the form of branches. • The TEM observations of InAs/GaAs nanowire heterostructures show that, in the initial stages of InAs radial growth on GaAs nanowires, InAs nucleates preferentially in the concave regions of the non-planar sidewalls of the GaAs nanowire. The further growth of InAs leads to the preferential formation of InAs shell structure at the regions of concave regions. Such heterogeneous formation of shell structure resembles InAs nanoring structures around GaAs nanowire cores. InAs growth on the planar {112} sidewalls of GaAs nanowires with hexagonal cross sections shows different growth phenomena to the above described InAs nanorings formation. In this case, InAs preferentially nucleates on {112}A sidewalls of the GaAs nanowires and with further deposition of InAs, the complete shell structure of InAs form with {110} sidewalls on the GaAs nanowire cores. • In addition to the above mentioned investigations, to observe the growth evolution of GaAs on InAs nanowires, GaAs is grown for 3 and 30 min on InAs nanowires. The TEM investigations of these nanostructures show that the axial GaAs/InAs hetero-interface contains an InGaAs transition segment in contrast to the sharp InAs/GaAs (InAs on GaAs) hetero-interface. The different nature of hetero-interfaces is attributed to the different affinities between Au catalysts and Ga or In. The radial growth of GaAs on InAs nanowires show that the GaAs shell has grown in wurtzite structure around the wurtzite structured InAs nanowire cores. Overall, through the extensive SEM and TEM investigations, this PhD thesis addresses the fundamental issues related to the growth of axial and radial nanowire heterostructures. Such fundamental investigations are expected to advance the processing and application prospective of the semiconductor nanowires and their associated heterostructures.

Core-shell nanowire LEDs are light emitting devices which, due to a high aspect ratio, have low substrate sensitivity, allowing the possibility of low defect density GaN light emitting diodes. Current growth techniques and physical non-idealities make the production of high conductivity p-type GaN for the shell region of these devices difficult. Due to the structure of core-shell nanowires and the difference in conductivity between ntype and p-type GaN, the full junction area of a core-shell nanowire is not used efficiently. To address this problem, a series of possible doping profiles are applied to the core of a simulated device to determine effects on current crowding and overall device efficiency. With a simplified model it is shown that current crowding has a possible dependence on the doping in the core in regions other than those directly in contact with the shell. The device efficiency is found to be improved through the use of non-constant doping profiles in the core region with particularly large efficiency increases related to profiles which modify portions of the core not in contact with the shell

Nonlinear coherent scattering phenomena from single nanoparticles have been recently proposed as alternative processes for fluorescence in multiphoton microscopy staining. Commonly applied nanoscale materials, however, have reached a certain limit in size dependent detection efficiency of weak nonlinear optical signals. None of the recent efforts in detection of second-harmonic generation (SHG), the lowest order nonlinear process, have been able to cross a ~40 nm size barrier for nanoparticles (NPs), thus remaining at the level of "large" nanoscatterers, even when resorting to the most sensitive detection techniques such as single-photon counting technology. As we realize now, this size limitation can be significantly lowered when replacing dielectric insulators or wide gap semiconductors by direct-gap semiconducting quantum dots (QDs). Herein, a new type of highly nonlinear nanoprobes is engineered in order to surpass above mentioned size barrier at the single nanoparticle scale. We consider two-photon resonant excitation in individual zinc-blende CdTe QDs of about 12.5 nm diameter, which provide efficient coherent SHG radiation, as high as 105 Hz, furthermore exhibiting remarkable sensitivity to spatial orientation of their octupolar crystalline lattice. Moreover, quantum confinement effects have been found to strongly contribute to the second-order nonlinear optical susceptibility χ(2) features. Quantitative characterization of the χ(2) of QDs by way of their spectral dispersion and size dependence is therefore undertaken by single particle spectroscopy and ensemble Hyper-Rayleigh Scattering (HRS) studies. We prove that under appropriate conditions, χ(2) of quantum confined semiconducting structures can significantly exceed that of bulk. Furthermore, a novel type of semiconducting hybrid rod-on-dot (RD) QDs is developed by building up on crystalline moieties of different symmetries, in order to increase their effective quadratic nonlinearity while maintaining their size close to a strong quantum confinement regime. The new complex hybrid χ(2) tensor is analyzed by interfering the susceptibilities from each component, considering different shape and point group symmetries associated to octupolar and dipolar crystalline structures. Significant SHG enhancement is consequently observed, exceeding that of mono-compound QDs, due to a coupling between two nonlinear materials and slower decoherence, which we attribute to the induced spatial charge separation upon photoexcitation.

Materials in smaller scales exhibit promising properties that are useful for wide variety of applications. Semiconductor quantum wells and quantum dots are two main examples of low-dimensional systems, where the quantum wells act as two-dimensional systems and the quantum dots act as zero-dimensional systems. Alternatively, semiconductor nanowires act as one-dimensional materials, and they exhibit promising and device applicable properties. These nanowires are relatively new class of materials compared to the quantum wells and the quantum dots. The semiconductor nanowires are expected to be the building blocks for future nanoelectronic and nano-optoelectronic device technology. Vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) mechanism is a widely used mechanism for the growth of semiconductor nanowires, where metal nanoparticles are used as the catalysts for the nanowires growth. This growth mechanism offers a flexibility to control the size, morphology and location of the semiconductor nanowires. In the VLS growth, changing the chemical composition of vapor constituents produce consequent compositional modulation in each nanowire. The compositional modulation along the nanowire axis produces axial nanowire heterostructures and in radial direction produces radial nanowire heterostructures. Such compositional modulation within an individual nanowire enables the designing of band structure of a nanowire and thereby allows the fabrication of single nanowire devices. These nanowire heterostructures show many potential properties and consequent applications. Although the semiconductor nanowire heterostructures are promising semiconductor nanostructures, the fundamental growth mechanisms of axial and radial nanowire heterostructures have not been explored sufficiently due to their complex nature of the growth. In this regard, this PhD thesis addresses the fundamental issues associated with axial and radial nanowire heterostructures. For such fundamental investigations, this PhD work chooses InAs/GaAs nanowire heterostructure system due to its potential applications. In fact, InAs/GaAs nanowire heterostructures are the first reported axial nanowire heterostructure system. However, no detailed investigations were reported on this system so far. The detailed nucleation and growth mechanisms associated with InAs/GaAs nanowire heterostructure system are explored in this thesis using electron microscopy investigations. This objective is achieved in the following steps. • InAs/GaAs nanowire heterostructures are grown using Au nanoparticles and metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) method. To determine the axial and radial growth evolution of InAs on GaAs nanowires, different InAs/GaAs nanowire heterostructures are produced by depositing InAs for different durations on GaAs nanowires. The GaAs nanowires are initially grown for 30 min and then the InAs is deposited on these nanowires for 1, 3, 5 and 30 min. • These InAs/GaAs nanowire heterostructures are subjected to scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) investigations. These investigations determine that, in the initial stages of the InAs axial growth (1 min), the Au particles move sidewards and subsequently downwards by maintaining an interface with the GaAs nanowire. Such a movement of Au catalysts is attributed to lower Au/GaAs interfacial energy than Au/InAs. The detailed TEM investigations show that this Au movement depends upon the crystallographic nature of the GaAs nanowire. The Au particle is always tend to move towards {112}B sidewall of the GaAs nanowire rather than its {112}A sidewalls. Increase in InAs growth duration shows that InAs branches evolve from GaAs-InAs core-shell structures. Such evolution is observed in following steps: (1) the movement of Au particle terminates when it encounters the radially grown InAs on GaAs nanowires; (2) further growth of InAs leads to the InAs nanowire growth from those terminated Au nanoparticles in the form of branches. • The TEM observations of InAs/GaAs nanowire heterostructures show that, in the initial stages of InAs radial growth on GaAs nanowires, InAs nucleates preferentially in the concave regions of the non-planar sidewalls of the GaAs nanowire. The further growth of InAs leads to the preferential formation of InAs shell structure at the regions of concave regions. Such heterogeneous formation of shell structure resembles InAs nanoring structures around GaAs nanowire cores. InAs growth on the planar {112} sidewalls of GaAs nanowires with hexagonal cross sections shows different growth phenomena to the above described InAs nanorings formation. In this case, InAs preferentially nucleates on {112}A sidewalls of the GaAs nanowires and with further deposition of InAs, the complete shell structure of InAs form with {110} sidewalls on the GaAs nanowire cores. • In addition to the above mentioned investigations, to observe the growth evolution of GaAs on InAs nanowires, GaAs is grown for 3 and 30 min on InAs nanowires. The TEM investigations of these nanostructures show that the axial GaAs/InAs hetero-interface contains an InGaAs transition segment in contrast to the sharp InAs/GaAs (InAs on GaAs) hetero-interface. The different nature of hetero-interfaces is attributed to the different affinities between Au catalysts and Ga or In. The radial growth of GaAs on InAs nanowires show that the GaAs shell has grown in wurtzite structure around the wurtzite structured InAs nanowire cores. Overall, through the extensive SEM and TEM investigations, this PhD thesis addresses the fundamental issues related to the growth of axial and radial nanowire heterostructures. Such fundamental investigations are expected to advance the processing and application prospective of the semiconductor nanowires and their associated heterostructures.

Materials in smaller scales exhibit promising properties that are useful for wide variety of applications. Semiconductor quantum wells and quantum dots are two main examples of low-dimensional systems, where the quantum wells act as two-dimensional systems and the quantum dots act as zero-dimensional systems. Alternatively, semiconductor nanowires act as one-dimensional materials, and they exhibit promising and device applicable properties. These nanowires are relatively new class of materials compared to the quantum wells and the quantum dots. The semiconductor nanowires are expected to be the building blocks for future nanoelectronic and nano-optoelectronic device technology. Vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) mechanism is a widely used mechanism for the growth of semiconductor nanowires, where metal nanoparticles are used as the catalysts for the nanowires growth. This growth mechanism offers a flexibility to control the size, morphology and location of the semiconductor nanowires. In the VLS growth, changing the chemical composition of vapor constituents produce consequent compositional modulation in each nanowire. The compositional modulation along the nanowire axis produces axial nanowire heterostructures and in radial direction produces radial nanowire heterostructures. Such compositional modulation within an individual nanowire enables the designing of band structure of a nanowire and thereby allows the fabrication of single nanowire devices. These nanowire heterostructures show many potential properties and consequent applications. Although the semiconductor nanowire heterostructures are promising semiconductor nanostructures, the fundamental growth mechanisms of axial and radial nanowire heterostructures have not been explored sufficiently due to their complex nature of the growth. In this regard, this PhD thesis addresses the fundamental issues associated with axial and radial nanowire heterostructures. For such fundamental investigations, this PhD work chooses InAs/GaAs nanowire heterostructure system due to its potential applications. In fact, InAs/GaAs nanowire heterostructures are the first reported axial nanowire heterostructure system. However, no detailed investigations were reported on this system so far. The detailed nucleation and growth mechanisms associated with InAs/GaAs nanowire heterostructure system are explored in this thesis using electron microscopy investigations. This objective is achieved in the following steps. • InAs/GaAs nanowire heterostructures are grown using Au nanoparticles and metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) method. To determine the axial and radial growth evolution of InAs on GaAs nanowires, different InAs/GaAs nanowire heterostructures are produced by depositing InAs for different durations on GaAs nanowires. The GaAs nanowires are initially grown for 30 min and then the InAs is deposited on these nanowires for 1, 3, 5 and 30 min. • These InAs/GaAs nanowire heterostructures are subjected to scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) investigations. These investigations determine that, in the initial stages of the InAs axial growth (1 min), the Au particles move sidewards and subsequently downwards by maintaining an interface with the GaAs nanowire. Such a movement of Au catalysts is attributed to lower Au/GaAs interfacial energy than Au/InAs. The detailed TEM investigations show that this Au movement depends upon the crystallographic nature of the GaAs nanowire. The Au particle is always tend to move towards {112}B sidewall of the GaAs nanowire rather than its {112}A sidewalls. Increase in InAs growth duration shows that InAs branches evolve from GaAs-InAs core-shell structures. Such evolution is observed in following steps: (1) the movement of Au particle terminates when it encounters the radially grown InAs on GaAs nanowires; (2) further growth of InAs leads to the InAs nanowire growth from those terminated Au nanoparticles in the form of branches. • The TEM observations of InAs/GaAs nanowire heterostructures show that, in the initial stages of InAs radial growth on GaAs nanowires, InAs nucleates preferentially in the concave regions of the non-planar sidewalls of the GaAs nanowire. The further growth of InAs leads to the preferential formation of InAs shell structure at the regions of concave regions. Such heterogeneous formation of shell structure resembles InAs nanoring structures around GaAs nanowire cores. InAs growth on the planar {112} sidewalls of GaAs nanowires with hexagonal cross sections shows different growth phenomena to the above described InAs nanorings formation. In this case, InAs preferentially nucleates on {112}A sidewalls of the GaAs nanowires and with further deposition of InAs, the complete shell structure of InAs form with {110} sidewalls on the GaAs nanowire cores. • In addition to the above mentioned investigations, to observe the growth evolution of GaAs on InAs nanowires, GaAs is grown for 3 and 30 min on InAs nanowires. The TEM investigations of these nanostructures show that the axial GaAs/InAs hetero-interface contains an InGaAs transition segment in contrast to the sharp InAs/GaAs (InAs on GaAs) hetero-interface. The different nature of hetero-interfaces is attributed to the different affinities between Au catalysts and Ga or In. The radial growth of GaAs on InAs nanowires show that the GaAs shell has grown in wurtzite structure around the wurtzite structured InAs nanowire cores. Overall, through the extensive SEM and TEM investigations, this PhD thesis addresses the fundamental issues related to the growth of axial and radial nanowire heterostructures. Such fundamental investigations are expected to advance the processing and application prospective of the semiconductor nanowires and their associated heterostructures.

Materials in smaller scales exhibit promising properties that are useful for wide variety of applications. Semiconductor quantum wells and quantum dots are two main examples of low-dimensional systems, where the quantum wells act as two-dimensional systems and the quantum dots act as zero-dimensional systems. Alternatively, semiconductor nanowires act as one-dimensional materials, and they exhibit promising and device applicable properties. These nanowires are relatively new class of materials compared to the quantum wells and the quantum dots. The semiconductor nanowires are expected to be the building blocks for future nanoelectronic and nano-optoelectronic device technology. Vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) mechanism is a widely used mechanism for the growth of semiconductor nanowires, where metal nanoparticles are used as the catalysts for the nanowires growth. This growth mechanism offers a flexibility to control the size, morphology and location of the semiconductor nanowires. In the VLS growth, changing the chemical composition of vapor constituents produce consequent compositional modulation in each nanowire. The compositional modulation along the nanowire axis produces axial nanowire heterostructures and in radial direction produces radial nanowire heterostructures. Such compositional modulation within an individual nanowire enables the designing of band structure of a nanowire and thereby allows the fabrication of single nanowire devices. These nanowire heterostructures show many potential properties and consequent applications. Although the semiconductor nanowire heterostructures are promising semiconductor nanostructures, the fundamental growth mechanisms of axial and radial nanowire heterostructures have not been explored sufficiently due to their complex nature of the growth. In this regard, this PhD thesis addresses the fundamental issues associated with axial and radial nanowire heterostructures. For such fundamental investigations, this PhD work chooses InAs/GaAs nanowire heterostructure system due to its potential applications. In fact, InAs/GaAs nanowire heterostructures are the first reported axial nanowire heterostructure system. However, no detailed investigations were reported on this system so far. The detailed nucleation and growth mechanisms associated with InAs/GaAs nanowire heterostructure system are explored in this thesis using electron microscopy investigations. This objective is achieved in the following steps. • InAs/GaAs nanowire heterostructures are grown using Au nanoparticles and metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) method. To determine the axial and radial growth evolution of InAs on GaAs nanowires, different InAs/GaAs nanowire heterostructures are produced by depositing InAs for different durations on GaAs nanowires. The GaAs nanowires are initially grown for 30 min and then the InAs is deposited on these nanowires for 1, 3, 5 and 30 min. • These InAs/GaAs nanowire heterostructures are subjected to scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) investigations. These investigations determine that, in the initial stages of the InAs axial growth (1 min), the Au particles move sidewards and subsequently downwards by maintaining an interface with the GaAs nanowire. Such a movement of Au catalysts is attributed to lower Au/GaAs interfacial energy than Au/InAs. The detailed TEM investigations show that this Au movement depends upon the crystallographic nature of the GaAs nanowire. The Au particle is always tend to move towards {112}B sidewall of the GaAs nanowire rather than its {112}A sidewalls. Increase in InAs growth duration shows that InAs branches evolve from GaAs-InAs core-shell structures. Such evolution is observed in following steps: (1) the movement of Au particle terminates when it encounters the radially grown InAs on GaAs nanowires; (2) further growth of InAs leads to the InAs nanowire growth from those terminated Au nanoparticles in the form of branches. • The TEM observations of InAs/GaAs nanowire heterostructures show that, in the initial stages of InAs radial growth on GaAs nanowires, InAs nucleates preferentially in the concave regions of the non-planar sidewalls of the GaAs nanowire. The further growth of InAs leads to the preferential formation of InAs shell structure at the regions of concave regions. Such heterogeneous formation of shell structure resembles InAs nanoring structures around GaAs nanowire cores. InAs growth on the planar {112} sidewalls of GaAs nanowires with hexagonal cross sections shows different growth phenomena to the above described InAs nanorings formation. In this case, InAs preferentially nucleates on {112}A sidewalls of the GaAs nanowires and with further deposition of InAs, the complete shell structure of InAs form with {110} sidewalls on the GaAs nanowire cores. • In addition to the above mentioned investigations, to observe the growth evolution of GaAs on InAs nanowires, GaAs is grown for 3 and 30 min on InAs nanowires. The TEM investigations of these nanostructures show that the axial GaAs/InAs hetero-interface contains an InGaAs transition segment in contrast to the sharp InAs/GaAs (InAs on GaAs) hetero-interface. The different nature of hetero-interfaces is attributed to the different affinities between Au catalysts and Ga or In. The radial growth of GaAs on InAs nanowires show that the GaAs shell has grown in wurtzite structure around the wurtzite structured InAs nanowire cores. Overall, through the extensive SEM and TEM investigations, this PhD thesis addresses the fundamental issues related to the growth of axial and radial nanowire heterostructures. Such fundamental investigations are expected to advance the processing and application prospective of the semiconductor nanowires and their associated heterostructures.

Materials in smaller scales exhibit promising properties that are useful for wide variety of applications. Semiconductor quantum wells and quantum dots are two main examples of low-dimensional systems, where the quantum wells act as two-dimensional systems and the quantum dots act as zero-dimensional systems. Alternatively, semiconductor nanowires act as one-dimensional materials, and they exhibit promising and device applicable properties. These nanowires are relatively new class of materials compared to the quantum wells and the quantum dots. The semiconductor nanowires are expected to be the building blocks for future nanoelectronic and nano-optoelectronic device technology. Vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) mechanism is a widely used mechanism for the growth of semiconductor nanowires, where metal nanoparticles are used as the catalysts for the nanowires growth. This growth mechanism offers a flexibility to control the size, morphology and location of the semiconductor nanowires. In the VLS growth, changing the chemical composition of vapor constituents produce consequent compositional modulation in each nanowire. The compositional modulation along the nanowire axis produces axial nanowire heterostructures and in radial direction produces radial nanowire heterostructures. Such compositional modulation within an individual nanowire enables the designing of band structure of a nanowire and thereby allows the fabrication of single nanowire devices. These nanowire heterostructures show many potential properties and consequent applications. Although the semiconductor nanowire heterostructures are promising semiconductor nanostructures, the fundamental growth mechanisms of axial and radial nanowire heterostructures have not been explored sufficiently due to their complex nature of the growth. In this regard, this PhD thesis addresses the fundamental issues associated with axial and radial nanowire heterostructures. For such fundamental investigations, this PhD work chooses InAs/GaAs nanowire heterostructure system due to its potential applications. In fact, InAs/GaAs nanowire heterostructures are the first reported axial nanowire heterostructure system. However, no detailed investigations were reported on this system so far. The detailed nucleation and growth mechanisms associated with InAs/GaAs nanowire heterostructure system are explored in this thesis using electron microscopy investigations. This objective is achieved in the following steps. • InAs/GaAs nanowire heterostructures are grown using Au nanoparticles and metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) method. To determine the axial and radial growth evolution of InAs on GaAs nanowires, different InAs/GaAs nanowire heterostructures are produced by depositing InAs for different durations on GaAs nanowires. The GaAs nanowires are initially grown for 30 min and then the InAs is deposited on these nanowires for 1, 3, 5 and 30 min. • These InAs/GaAs nanowire heterostructures are subjected to scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) investigations. These investigations determine that, in the initial stages of the InAs axial growth (1 min), the Au particles move sidewards and subsequently downwards by maintaining an interface with the GaAs nanowire. Such a movement of Au catalysts is attributed to lower Au/GaAs interfacial energy than Au/InAs. The detailed TEM investigations show that this Au movement depends upon the crystallographic nature of the GaAs nanowire. The Au particle is always tend to move towards {112}B sidewall of the GaAs nanowire rather than its {112}A sidewalls. Increase in InAs growth duration shows that InAs branches evolve from GaAs-InAs core-shell structures. Such evolution is observed in following steps: (1) the movement of Au particle terminates when it encounters the radially grown InAs on GaAs nanowires; (2) further growth of InAs leads to the InAs nanowire growth from those terminated Au nanoparticles in the form of branches. • The TEM observations of InAs/GaAs nanowire heterostructures show that, in the initial stages of InAs radial growth on GaAs nanowires, InAs nucleates preferentially in the concave regions of the non-planar sidewalls of the GaAs nanowire. The further growth of InAs leads to the preferential formation of InAs shell structure at the regions of concave regions. Such heterogeneous formation of shell structure resembles InAs nanoring structures around GaAs nanowire cores. InAs growth on the planar {112} sidewalls of GaAs nanowires with hexagonal cross sections shows different growth phenomena to the above described InAs nanorings formation. In this case, InAs preferentially nucleates on {112}A sidewalls of the GaAs nanowires and with further deposition of InAs, the complete shell structure of InAs form with {110} sidewalls on the GaAs nanowire cores. • In addition to the above mentioned investigations, to observe the growth evolution of GaAs on InAs nanowires, GaAs is grown for 3 and 30 min on InAs nanowires. The TEM investigations of these nanostructures show that the axial GaAs/InAs hetero-interface contains an InGaAs transition segment in contrast to the sharp InAs/GaAs (InAs on GaAs) hetero-interface. The different nature of hetero-interfaces is attributed to the different affinities between Au catalysts and Ga or In. The radial growth of GaAs on InAs nanowires show that the GaAs shell has grown in wurtzite structure around the wurtzite structured InAs nanowire cores. Overall, through the extensive SEM and TEM investigations, this PhD thesis addresses the fundamental issues related to the growth of axial and radial nanowire heterostructures. Such fundamental investigations are expected to advance the processing and application prospective of the semiconductor nanowires and their associated heterostructures.

L'intégration de composés semi-conducteurs III-V sur silicium devrait conduire au développement de nouveaux dispositifs micro- et optoélectroniques performants. Le composé InGaAs de haute mobilité électronique est un candidat prometteur pour le transistor métal-oxyde-semiconducteur à effet de champ à canal n au-delà du noeud technologique 10 nm. En outre les semi-conducteurs III-V sont aussi des matériaux appropriés pour la fabrication de composants optiques (lasers, diodes) et de dispositifs analogiques ultra-haute fréquence et leur intégration sur une plateforme Si ajoutera de nouvelles fonctionnalités pour le réseau de communications optiques. Cependant la miniaturisation des dispositifs et leur intégration dans les architectures 3D nécessitent le développement de méthodes de caractérisation avancées pour fournir des informations sur leur composition physico-chimique avec une résolution à l'échelle nanométrique.Dans cette thèse, les études physico-chimiques des hétérostructures III-V directement élaborées sur plaquettes de Si 300 mm par épitaxie en phase vapeur sont adressées. Les techniques de spectrométrie de masse d'ions secondaires sont utilisées et développées dans le but d'étudier la raideur des interfaces, la composition chimique et le dopage de couches III-V minces dans des architectures 2D et 3D avec une bonne résolution en profondeur. L'analyse quantitative précise sur un puits quantique InGaAs (PQ) pour des architectures 2D et 3D a été réalisée en utilisant les techniques SIMS magnétique et Auger. Pour obtenir le profil chimique des structures III-V étroites et répétitives, une méthode de moyenne des profils a été développée pour ces deux techniques. Egalement, la reconstruction 3D et le profil en profondeur de tranchées individuelles (moins de cent nanomètres de largeur) contenant un PQ d’InGaAs mince obtenu par croissance sélective dans des cavités de dioxyde de silicium en utilisant la méthode de piégeage des défauts par rapport d’aspect ont été obtenus avec succès en utilisant le SIMS à temps de vol ainsi que la sonde atomique tomographique. Enfin, les résultats ont été corrélés avec des mesures de photoluminescence. / The integration of III-V semiconductor compounds on silicon should lead to the development of new highly efficient micro- and opto-electronic devices. High mobility InGaAs material is a promising candidate for n-channel metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor beyond the 10 nm technology node. Moreover III-V semiconductors are also suitable materials for fabrication of optical (lasers, diodes) and ultra-high frequency analog devices and their integration on a Si platform will add new functionalities for optical network and communication. However the miniaturization of devices and their integration into 3D architectures require the development of advanced characterization methods to provide information on their physico-chemical composition with nanometer scale resolution.In this thesis, the physico-chemical studies of III-As heterostructures directly grown on 300 mm Si wafers by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy are addressed. Secondary ion mass spectrometry techniques are used and developed in order to study interfaces abruptness, chemical composition and doping of III-V thin layers in 2D and 3D architectures with high depth resolution. The accurate quantitative analysis on InGaAs quantum wells (QWs) in 2D and 3D architectures was performed using magnetic SIMS and Auger techniques. To obtain the chemical profiling of narrow and repetitive III-V structures the averaging profiling method was developed for both techniques. Additionally, 3D reconstruction and depth profiling of individual trenches (less than hundred nanometer in width) containing thin InGaAs QWs selectively grown in silicon dioxide cavities using the aspect ratio trapping method were successfully obtained using Time-of-flight SIMS and atom probe tomography. Finally, the results were correlated with photoluminescence measurements.

No description available.