Direct Synthesis of Silicon Nanowires using Silane and Molten Gallium

摘要

We report for the first time,bulk synthesis of single crystalline silicon nanowires using molten gallium pools and an activated vapor phase containing silane.The resulting silicon nanowires were single crystalline and <100> growth direction.Nanowires contained an unexpectedly thin,non-uniform oxide sheath determined using high-resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM).Nanowires were tens of nanometers in diameter and tens to hundreds of microns long.The use of activated gas phase chemistry containing solute of interest over molten metal pools of low-solubility eutectics such as gallium offer a viable route ot generate nanowire systems containing abrupt compositional hetero-interfaces.