Strain induced semiconductor nanotubes: From formation process to device applications

Semiconductor nanotubes (SNTs) represent a new class of nanotechnology building blocks. They are formed by a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches, using strain induced self-rolling mechanism from epitaxially grown heterojunction films. This review summarizes several aspects of this emerging field, including the SNT formation process, its dependence on crystal orientation, strain direction and geometry as well as the structural, electronic and optical properties and their implications. The precise controllability of structural and spatial positioning and versatile functionality make SNTs and related three-dimensional (3D) architectures promising candidates for practical applications in next generation nanoelectronic and nanophotonic devices.