Imaging the local density of free charge carriers in doped InAs nanowires

Semiconductor nanowires are promising candidates for future nanoelectronic devices. While the bottom-up approach for their growth could simplify the device fabrication, their quantitative characterization remains challenging. We use scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscopy (s-SNOM) to investigate the local density of free electrons in Si-doped InAs nanowires grown by selective-area metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy (SA-MOVPE). In s-SNOM the evanescent electric field at the apex of an illuminated tip is used to probe a sample at a strongly sub-wavelength resolution. This method is highly sensitive to variations in the sample permittivity around Re(ε) ∼ -2. The use of tunable mid-infrared lasers therefore allows addressing the plasma frequency of free charge carriers in highly doped nanowires. Here, we demonstrate that the sensitivity of s-SNOM is sufficient to detect a slight unintended variation in the carrier concentration during the growth process. Furthermore, using model calculations, we give an estimate of the local density of free electrons.