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Nanowires

Bringing order to twin-plane defects

Nature Nanotechnology volume 4, pages 17–18 (2009)Cite this article

Two independent groups have demonstrated an unprecedented degree of control over the crystal structure and defect distribution in semiconductor nanowires

A fascinating process was seen for the first time over 40 years ago when two researchers at Bell Labs deposited silicon, in the form of SiCl4 gas reduced by hydrogen, onto a heated silicon surface decorated with gold1. Instead of forming a uniform layer on the surface, the silicon spontaneously grew into 'whiskers' — crystalline columns each topped with a gold particle. This unexpected phenomenon, named vapour-liquid-solid growth, took place via several stages. First the gold reacted with the silicon to form droplets of liquid AuSi. Then additional silicon from the gas dissolved into the droplets, supersaturating them with silicon. This caused the silicon to precipitate beneath the droplets. The droplets remained on the tips of the whiskers and allowed them to continue growing. The resulting whiskers had an almost perfect crystal structure, with a diameter that was determined by the size of the gold particles and a length that depended on the growth time.

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Figure 1: Different types of semiconductor nanowires.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Frances M. Ross is at the IBM T. J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, New York 10598, USA. fmross@us.ibm.com,

    Frances M. Ross

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  1. Frances M. Ross
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Ross, F. Bringing order to twin-plane defects. Nature Nanotech 4, 17–18 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2008.388

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2008.388

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