Elastic modulus of amorphous SiO2 nanowires -: art. no. 043108

Amorphous SiO2 nanowires with diameter ranging from 50 to 100 nm were synthesized using chemical vapor deposition (CVD) under an argon atmosphere at atmospheric pressure. Nanoscale three-point bending tests were performed directly on individual amorphous SiO2 nanowires using an atomic force microscope (AFM). Elastic modulus of the amorphous SiO2 nanowires was measured to be 76.6 +/- 7.2 GPa, which is close to the reported value of the bulk SiO2 and thermally grown SiO2 thin films, but lower than that of plasma-enhanced CVD SiO2 thin films. The amorphous SiO2 nanowires exhibit brittle fracture failure in bending.