Insights into gold-catalyzed plasma-assisted CVD growth of silicon nanowires
- LPICM, CNRS, Ecole Polytechnique, Université Paris-Saclay, 91128 Palaiseau (France)
Understanding and controlling effectively the behavior of metal catalyst droplets during the Vapor-Liquid-Solid growth of nanowires are crucial for their applications. In this work, silicon nanowires are produced by plasma-assisted Chemical Vapor Deposition using gold as a catalyst. The influence of hydrogen plasma on nanowire growth is investigated experimentally and theoretically. Interestingly, in contrast to conventional chemical vapor deposition, the growth rate of silicon nanowires shows a decrease as a function of their diameters, which is consistent with the incorporation of silicon via sidewall diffusion. We show that Ostwald ripening of catalyst droplets during nanowire growth is inhibited in the presence of a hydrogen plasma. However, when the plasma is off, the diffusion of Au atoms on the nanowire sidewall can take place. Based on this observation, we have developed a convenient method to grow silicon nanotrees.
- OSTI ID:
- 22594380
- Journal Information:
- Applied Physics Letters, Journal Name: Applied Physics Letters Journal Issue: 4 Vol. 109; ISSN APPLAB; ISSN 0003-6951
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Alloy-assisted deposition of three-dimensional arrays of atomic gold catalyst for crystal growth studies
Broadening of length distributions of Au-catalyzed InAs nanowires