Modeling of the mechanical stiffness of the GaP/GaAs nanowires with point defects/stacking faults

The semiconductor type III-V nanowires (e.g., GaAs, GaP, InAs, InP, etc.) has excellent electronic/optical properties for the application of next-generation nano-scaled transistor, light-emitting diode and bio/chemical sensors. However, the electronic conductance of the nanowire is highly sensitive to the internal stress/strain condition under external loadings. In this paper, the mechanical stiffness of the GaAs and GaP nanowires are simulated, and the trend of the results are validated by the bulk experiments. The mechanical influence of the point defect and the stacking faults are considered. Moreover, an analytical solution is established to describe the mechanical stiffness decreasing of the stacking faults. The simulations indicate that the mechanical stiffness of the nanowire is influenced by the density of the stacking faults and the density of covalent bonds at the twin-dislocation interface. Key Words: III-V nano-scaled semiconductors, Molecular dynamics calculations, Stacking faults, Mechanical properties.