Length distributions of Au-catalyzed III-V nanowires in different regimes of the diffusion-induced growth

We present a model for kinetic broadening effects on the length distributions of Au-catalyzed III-V nanowires obtained in the growth regime with adatom diffusion from the substrate and the nanowire sidewalls to the top. We observe three different regimes for the length distribution evolution with time. For short growth times, the length distribution is sub-Poissonian, converting to broader than Poissonian with increasing the mean length above a certain threshold value. After the diffusion flux from the nanowire sidewalls has stabilized, the length distribution variance increases linearly with the mean length, as in the Poissonian process.