Controlled growth of oriented amorphous silicon nanowires via a solid-liquid-solid (SLS) mechanism

Highly oriented amorphous silicon nanowires (a-SiNWs) were grown on Si (111). The length and diameter of oriented SiNWs are almost uniform, which are 1 mum and 25 nm, respectively. Different from the well-known vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) for conventional whisker growth, it was found that growth of the a-SiNWs was controlled by a solid-liquid-solid mechanism (SLS). This synthesis method is simple and controllable. It may be useful in large-scale synthesis of various nanowires. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.