title: Epitaxial growth of silicon nanowires using an aluminium catalyst.
abstract: Silicon nanowires have been identified as important components for future electronic and sensor nanodevices. So far gold has dominated as the catalyst for growing Si nanowires via the vapour-liquid-solid (VLS) mechanism. Unfortunately, gold traps electrons and holes in Si and poses a serious contamination problem for Si complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) processing. Although there are some reports on the use of non-gold catalysts for Si nanowire growth, either the growth requires high temperatures and/or the catalysts are not compatible with CMOS requirements. From a technological standpoint, a much more attractive catalyst material would be aluminium, as it is a standard metal in Si process lines. Here we report for the first time the epitaxial growth of Al-catalysed Si nanowires and suggest that growth proceeds via a vapour-solid-solid (VSS) rather than a VLS mechanism. It is also found that the tapering of the nanowires can be strongly reduced by lowering the growth temperature.
authors.forename: Yewu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Volker
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.forename: Stephan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Senz
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Gösele
mesh_terms: D000535:Aluminum / Q000737:chemistry; D002384:Catalysis; D003460:Crystallization / Q000379:methods*; D004559:Electric Wiring / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D008422:Materials Testing; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D043942:Nanotubes / Q000737:chemistry*; D012825:Silicon / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D000535:Aluminum; D012825:Silicon