p-type doping of GaAs nanowires using carbon

We report on the electrical properties of Au-catalyzed C-doped GaAs nanowires (NWs) grown by metal organic vapor phase epitaxy. Transport measurements were carried out using a tungsten nanoprobe inside a scanning electron microscope by contacting to the Au catalyst particle of individual nanowires. The doping level could be varied from approximately (4 +/- 1) x 10(16) cm(-3) to (1.0 +/- 0.3) x 10(19) cm(-3) by varying the molar flow of the gas phase carbon precursor, as well as the group V to group III precursor ratio. It was found that the current transport mechanism switches from generation-recombination to tunnelling field emission by increasing the doping level to 1 x 10(19) cm(-3). Based on a diameter-dependent analysis of the apparent resistivity of the C-doped NWs, we propose that C incorporates into GaAs NWs through the triple boundary at the Au/NW interface. The p-type conductivity of the C-doped NWs was inferred by observing a rectification at negative bias (applied to the Au electrode) and confirmed by back-gating measurements performed on field effect transistor devices. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4759368]