Search

The size of silicon nanowires (SiNWs) plays an important role for their application in nanoelectronic and nanophotonic systems. Therefore, it is of great interest to study the synthesis conditions of SiNWs in order to grow SiNWs with well-controlled manner to be integrated into a device. This paper includes a systematic study of the dependence of diameter and length of the SiNWs on the growth conditions. SiNWs were synthesized via vapor–liquid–solid (VLS) mechanism using a catalyst film of Sn nanoparticles on stainless steel (SS) substrate. The morphology and microstructure of SiNWs synthesized at different parameters were investigated with scanning electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. In this study, we have observed that there exists a minimum size of the catalyst to initiate the growth of SiNWs for a given set of process parameters. Furthermore, this work also addresses the difficulties associated with the growth of long SiNWs. Effect of filament temperature on the morphology of SiNWs has also been studied. It is observed that their dimensions and geometrical orientation are greatly influenced by the filament temperature. At filament temperatures between 1400 and 1600 °C, short SiNWs with random distributions are observed. Long and vertical SiNWs are found if the filament temperature was raised to 1800–1950 °C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report here the effect of a controlled modification of the shell microstructure around the crystalline core of a silicon nanowire (SiNW) grown at a low (320 °C) temperature by the hot wire chemical vapor processing (HWCVP) method. We demonstrate these effects through the evaluation of the performance of a micro-supercapacitor (µ-SC) device fabricated with these SiNWs having different shell structures. It is to be emphasized that the shell microstructure could be modified through a controlled interplay of the process parameters during the growth. A careful optimization of the shell microstructure in these nanowires during its low-temperature deposition has led to a µ-SC with capacitance value of 94 µF/cm. This result opens up exciting opportunities for HWCVP-grown SiNWs to be employed for on-chip µ-SC and other low-temperature applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]