title: Diameter-independent kinetics in the vapor-liquid-solid growth of Si nanowires.
abstract: We examine individual Si nanowires grown by the vapor-liquid-solid mechanism, using real-time in situ ultra high vacuum transmission electron microscopy. By directly observing Au-catalyzed growth of Si wires from disilane, we show that the growth rate is independent of wire diameter, contrary to the expected behavior. Our measurements show that the unique rate-limiting step here is the irreversible, kinetically limited, dissociative adsorption of disilane directly on the catalyst surface. We also identify a novel dependence of growth rate on wire taper.
authors.affiliation: IBM Research Division, T.J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, New York 10598, USA. skodamb@us.ibm.com
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kodambaka
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tersoff
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Reuter
authors.forename: F M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Ross