In this work the applicability of neopentasilane (Si(SiH(3))(4)) as a precursor for the formation of silicon nanowires by using gold nanoparticles as a catalyst has been explored. The growth proceeds via the formation of liquid gold/silicon alloy droplets, which excrete the silicon nanowires upon continued decomposition of the precursor. This mechanism determines the diameter of the Si nanowire...

Lateral, single-crystalline silicon nanowires were synthesized using chemical vapor deposition catalyzed by gold nanoparticles deposited on one of the vertical {1 1 1} sidewalls of trenches etched in Si(0 1 1) substrates. Upon encountering the opposing sidewalls of the trenches, the lateral nanowires formed a mechanically strong connection. The bridging connection at the opposing sidewall was o...

Silicon nanowires fabricated by metal-assisted chemical etching can present low porosity and a rough surface depending on the doping level of the original silicon wafer. In this case, wiring of silicon nanowires may represent a challenging task. We investigated two different approaches to realize the electrical contacts in order to enable electrical measurement on a rough silicon nanowire devic...

The focus of this project was the characterization and growth of 3C-silicon carbide (b-SiC) nanowires using the vapor-liquid-solid method. Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) occurred at temperatures ranging from 1050oC to 1100oC using silane and propane as precursor gases. Experimentation with various surface preparations, including metal catalysts such as nickel (Ni) and aluminum (Al) deposited b...

We report the growth of high density silicon Oxide (SiOx) nanowires at an elevated temperature. The nanowires density is enhanced by inserting a thin layer of chromium metal in gold/Si catalyst system. The SiOx nanowires were grown with gold/chromium catalysts stack layer on the Si substrate at different temperatures ranging from 1050oC to 1150oC. Under the catalysis reaction of the gold/chromi...

In this letter, we report a novel approach to selectively functionalize the surface of silicon nanowires located on silicon-based substrates. This method is based upon highly localized nanoscale Joule heating along silicon nanowires under an applied electrical bias. Numerical simulation shows that a high-temperature (>800 K) with a large thermal gradient can be achieved by applying an appropria...

We report the bulk synthesis of hydrogenated, amorphous SixNy and SixOy nanowires using pools of molten gallium as the solvent medium and microwave plasma consisting of silane in nitrogen and silane in oxygen respectively. High densities of multiple nanowires nucleated and grew from molten gallium pools. The resulting nanowires were tens of nanometers in diameter and tens of microns long. Elect...

An accurate evaluation of the radial dopant profile in a nanowire is crucial for designing future nanoscale devices synthesized using bottom-up techniques. We developed a very slow wet chemical etchant for gradually reducing the diameters of metal-catalysed, boron-doped silicon nanowires with varying diameters and lengths. Particular care has been taken to perform the experiment at room tempera...

A heterojunction of n-type zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowires and p-type silicon has been successfully constructed to demonstrate ultraviolet (UV) photodiodes. The prototype device consists of naturally doped n-type ZnO nanowires grown on top of a (1 0 0) p-silicon substrate by the bottom-up growth process. The diameter of the nanowires is in the range of 70–120 nm, and the length is controlled by the ...

We study numerically the dependence of dispersive and birefringence properties of silicon nanowires on waveguide dimensions and show that they have a strong geometrical dependence when nanowire dimensions become comparable to the wavelength of light inside the device. We develop a graphical method for engineering two or more dispersion parameters simultaneously and use it to demonstrate the pos...