Growth of straight, atomically perfect, highly metallic silicon nanowires with chiral asymmetry.

De Padova, Paola; Quaresima, Claudio; Perfetti, Paolo; Olivieri, Bruno; Leandri, Christel; Aufray, Bernard; Vizzini, Sebastien; Lay, Guy Le · Nano Lett · 2008

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

In the quest of nano-objects for future electronics, silicon nanowires could possibly take over carbon nanotubes. Here we show the growth by self-organization of straight, massively parallel silicon nanowires having a width of 1.6 nm, which are atomically perfect and highly metallic conductors. Surprisingly, these silicon nanowires display a strong symmetry breaking across their widths with two chiral species that self-assemble in large left-handed and right-handed magnetic-like domains.