Fermi energy dependence of the optical emission in core/shell InAs nanowire homostructures.

InAs nanowires grown by vapor–liquid–solid (VLS) method are investigated by photoluminescence. We observe that the Fermi energy of all samples is reduced by ~20 meV when the size of the Au nanoparticle used for catalysis is increased from 5 to 20 nm. Additional capping with a thin InP shell enhances the optical emission and does not affect the Fermi energy. The unexpected behavior of the Fermi energy is attributed to the differences in the residual donor (likely carbon) incorporation in the axial (low) and lateral (high incorporation) growth in the VLS and vapor–solid (VS) methods, respectively. The different impurity incorporation rate in these two regions leads to a core/shell InAs homost…