Growth and Characterization ofGe100-xDyx(x≤2)Nanowires
Novel semiconducting Germanium-Dysprosium nanowires are fabricated by a combined two-step method, which consists of initial arc-melting of the elemental constituents into a pellet and its heat treatment, followed by thermal vapor transport of the powdered pellet in a tube reactor for fabrication of the nanowires. The nanomaterials are fabricated on gold nucleation seeds on Si/SiO2substrates. The thermodynamic conditions in the reactor are carefully chosen to produce wires with diameters in a narrow, specific range. This nanofabrication method ensures high phase purity and crystallinity of nanowires. Based on the results and theoretical work, it is concluded that the fabricatedGe98Dy2materials are in a glassy state below 20 K.