Electrochemical deposition of Ni on arrays of GaAs nanowires with n-type channels.

The processes of electrochemical deposition of Ni on vertically aligned GaAs nanowires (NWs) grown by molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE) using Au as a growth catalyst on n-type Si(111) substrates were studied. Based on the results of electrochemical deposition, it was concluded that during the MBE synthesis of NWs the self-induced formation of conductive channels can occur inside NWs, thereby forming quasi core-shell NWs. Depending on the length of the channel compare to the NW heights and the parameters of electrochemical deposition, the different hybrid metal-semiconductor nanostructures, such as Ni nanoparticles on GaAs NW side walls, Ni clusters on top ends of GaAs NWs, core-shell GaAs/Ni NWs, were obtained.