Growth of straight, atomically perfect, highly metallic silicon nanowires with chiral asymmetry.
In the quest of nano-objects for future electronics, silicon nanowires could possibly take over carbon nanotubes. Here we show the growth by self-organization of straight, massively parallel silicon nanowires having a width of 1.6 nm, which are atomically perfect and highly metallic conductors. Surprisingly, these silicon nanowires display a strong symmetry breaking across their widths with two chiral species that self-assemble in large left-handed and right-handed magnetic-like domains.
De Padova
Paola
P
CNR-ISM, via Fosso del Cavaliere, 00133 Roma, Italy. paola.depadova@ism.cnr.it
Quaresima
Claudio
C
Perfetti
Paolo
P
Olivieri
Bruno
B
Leandri
Christel
C
Aufray
Bernard
B
Vizzini
Sebastien
S
Lay
Guy Le
GL