Growth, electrical rectification, and gate control in axial <i>in situ</i> doped p-n junction germanium nanowires

Abstract

We report on vapor-liquid-solid growth and electrical properties of axial in situ doped p-n junction Ge sub-100 nm diameter nanowires. Room temperature four-point measurements show current rectification of two to three orders of magnitude depending on nanowire doping and diameter. We observe strong backgate control of reverse-bias current of up to three orders of magnitude and explain it by band-to-band tunneling modulated by the backgate-controlled electric field, as confirmed qualitatively via a quasi-three-dimensional Schrödinger–Poisson simulation.