Origin of polytype formation in VLS-grown Ge nanowires through defect generation and nanowire kinking.

We propose layer-by-layer growth mechanisms to account for planar defect generation leading to kinked polytype nanowires. Cs-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy enabled identification of stacking sequences of distinct polytype bands found in kinked nanowires, and Raman spectroscopy was used to distinguish polytype nanowires from twinned nanowires containing only the 3C diamond cubic phase. The faceting and atomic-scale defect structures of twinned 3C are compared with those of polytype nanowires to develop a common model linking nucleation pinning to nanowire morphology and phase.