Bulk synthesis of silicon nanowires using a low-temperature vapor-liquid-solid method

Silicon nanowires will find applications in nanoscale electronics and optoelectronics both as active and passive components. Here, we demonstrate a low-temperature vapor-liquid-solid synthesis method that uses liquid-metal solvents with low solubility for silicon and other elemental semiconductor materials. This method eliminates the usual requirement of quantum-sized droplets in order to obtain quantum-scale one-dimensional structures. Specifically, we synthesized silicon nanowires with uniform diameters distributed around 6 nm using gallium as the molten solvent, at temperatures less than 400 degreesC in hydrogen plasma. The potential exists for bulk synthesis of silicon nanowires at temperatures significantly lower than 400 degreesC. Gallium forms a eutectic with silicon near room temperature and offers a wide temperature range for bulk synthesis of nanowires. These properties are important for creating monodispersed one-dimensional structures capable of yielding sharp hetero- or homointerfaces. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.