MOCVD synthesis of compositionally tuned topological insulator nanowires

Device applications involving topological insulators (TIs) will require the development of scalable methods for fabricating TI samples with sub‐micron dimensions, high quality surfaces, and controlled compositions. Here we use Bi‐, Se‐, and Te‐bearing metalorganic precursors to synthesize TIs in the form of nanowires. Single crystal nanowires can be grown with compositions ranging from Bi₂Se₃ to Bi₂Te₃, including the ternary compound Bi₂Te₂Se. These high quality nanostructured TI compounds are suitable platforms for on‐going searches for Majorana fermions (Mourik et al., Science 336 , 1003 (2012) and Cook et al., Rev. B 86 , 155431 (2012) [1, 2]).