Engineering island-chain silicon nanowires via a droplet mediated Plateau-Rayleigh transformation.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 27682161.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/ncomms12836 and PMC identifier 5056411.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
The ability to program highly modulated morphology upon silicon nanowires (SiNWs) has been fundamental to explore new phononic and electronic functionalities. We here exploit a nanoscale locomotion of metal droplets to demonstrate a large and readily controllable morphology engineering of crystalline SiNWs, from straight ones into continuous or discrete island-chains, at temperature <350 °C. This has been accomplished via a tin (Sn) droplet mediated in-plane growth where amorphous Si thin film is consumed as precursor to produce crystalline SiNWs. Thanks to a significant interface-stretching effect, a periodic Plateau-Rayleigh instability oscillation can be stimulated in the liquid Sn droplet, and the temporal oscillation of the Sn droplets is translated faithfully, via the deformable liquid/solid deposition interface, into regular spatial modulation upon the SiNWs. Combined with a unique self-alignment and positioning capability, this new strategy could enable a rational design and single-run fabrication of a wide variety of nanowire-based optoelectronic devices.