Faceted nanostructure arrays with extreme regularity controlled vacancy by vacancy

Semiconductor quantum dots and wires are important building blocks for future electronic and optoelectronic devices. The common way of producing semiconductor nanostructures is by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). Recently, we have shown self-assembling by a subtractive process induced by high fluence ion irradiations [X. Ou et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 111 (2013) 016101], where vacancies created by ion impacts nucleate and finally lead to 3D morphology patterns. Here, we show that for III-V semiconductors with zinc-blende crystal structure a symmetry-breaking driving force exists on (001) surfaces which leads to extremely regular nanogroove patterns oriented along the [11 ̅0] direction without any defect over large areas. These faceted stripe structures are formed due to different energetics as well as kinetics of the reconstructed surfaces of GaAs and InAs with extremely regularity due to enhanced, ion-assisted surface diffusion. In contrast, on group IV (Si, Ge) semiconductors with diamond structure patterns with three-fold, four-fold, and six-fold symmetry, depending on the surface orientation, have been found.