Dresden 2006 – scientific programme

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HL: Halbleiterphysik

HL 4: New materials

HL 4.3: Talk

Monday, March 27, 2006, 10:45–11:00, BEY 154

Nucleation characteristics of silicon nanowires as a function of the metal catalyst — •Anna Fontcuberta i Morral^1,2, Billel Kalache², and Pere Roca i Cabarrocas² — ¹Walter Schottky Institut- TU Muenchen, Am Coulomwall, 3, 85748 Garching — ²LPICM, Ecole Polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau Cedex, France

A theoretical model of the Vapor-Liquid-Solid growth mechanism pertaining to the nucleation of silicon nanowires is presented. The model is based on the diffusion of the silicon through the solid catalyst and predicts an incubation time for the onset of nanowire growth. To validate the model, the incubation times of silicon nanowires obtained by Chemical Vapor Deposition and employing both gold and copper as a catalyst have been measured for the first time The experimentally observed incubation times are in excellent agreement with the presented model and diffusion characteristics of silicon through solid Au and Cu. The results can be applied to any other metal/semiconductor system for the synthesis of nanowires and provide a route to measure the phase space for the nanowire-synthesis.