title: An in-plane solid-liquid-solid growth mode for self-avoiding lateral silicon nanowires.
abstract: We report an in-plane solid-liquid-solid (IPSLS) mode for obtaining self-avoiding lateral silicon nanowires (SiNW) in a reacting-gas-free annealing process, where the growth of SiNWs is guided by liquid indium drops that transform the surrounding a-SiratioH matrix into crystalline SiNWs. The SiNWs can be approximately mm long, with the smallest diameter down to approximately 22 nm. A high growth rate of >10(2) nm/s and rich evolution dynamics are revealed in a real-time in situ scanning electron microscopy observation. A qualitative growth model is proposed to account for the major features of this IPSLS SiNW growth mode.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Physique des Interfaces et des Couches Minces, Ecole Polytechnique, CNRS, 91128 Palaiseau, France.
authors.forename: Linwei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Pierre-Jean
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Alet
authors.forename: Gennaro
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Picardi
authors.forename: Pere
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Roca i Cabarrocas
mesh_terms: D002384:Catalysis; D006859:Hydrogen / Q000737:chemistry; D007204:Indium / Q000737:chemistry; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D053770:Nanowires / Q000737:chemistry*; D009532:Nickel / Q000737:chemistry; D045663:Quantum Dots; D012825:Silicon / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D007204:Indium; D009532:Nickel; D006859:Hydrogen; D012825:Silicon