Study of the initial nucleation and growth of catalyst-free InAs and Ge nanowires

The authors have examined the nucleation conditions in the growth of catalyst-free InAs and Ge nanowires (NWs) on porous Si, as well as the growth of InAs NWs on a SiO2 substrate using 10 nm sized In nanoparticles. The NW growths were performed in a closed system. The results suggest that all the NWs grew from a solid nucleation state. For the growth using In nanoparticles, the results suggest that the growth mechanism is very different from the vapor-liquid-solid, in that the nanowire growth only begins after the nucleation particle solidifies. (C) 2007 American Institute of Physics.