Abstract
We have grown silicon nanowires (SiNWs) on Si (1 1 1) substrates by gold-catalyzed vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) process using tetrachlorosilane (SiCl 4 ) in a hot-wall chemical vapor deposition reactor. Even under the optimized conditions including H 2 annealing to reduce the surface native oxide, epitaxial SiNWs of 150-200 nm in diameter often grew along all four 〈1 1 1〉 family directions with one direction vertical and three others inclined to the surface. Therefore, the growth of high degree ordered SiNW arrays along [1 1 1] only was attempted on Au-coated Si (1 1 1) by a ramp-cooling process utilizing the liquid phase epitaxy (LPE) mechanism. The Au-coated Si substrate was first annealed in H 2 at 650 °C to form Au-Si alloy nanoparticles, and then ramp-cooled at a controlled rate to precipitate epitaxial Si seeds on the substrate based on LPE mechanism. The substrate was further heated in SiCl 4 /H 2 to 850 °C for the VLS growths of SiNWs on the Si seeds. Thus, almost 100% vertically-aligned SiNWs along [1 1 1] only could be reproducibly grown on Si (1 1 1), without using a template or patterning the metal catalyst. The high-density vertically-aligned SiNWs have good potentials for solar cells and nano-devices.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 7989-7996 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Applied Surface Science |
Volume | 258 |
Issue number | 20 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2012 Aug 1 |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Chemistry(all)
- Condensed Matter Physics
- Physics and Astronomy(all)
- Surfaces and Interfaces
- Surfaces, Coatings and Films