Eur. Phys. J. D 34, 307-310 (2005)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2005-00165-x

Morphology evolution of Si nanowires synthesized by gas condensation of SiO without any catalyst

¹ National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures and Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, P.R. China
² National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures and Department of Physics, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, P.R. China

Corresponding author: ^a zhoujf@nju.edu.cn

Received: 6 September 2004
Published online: 13 July 2005

Abstract

A series of Si nanowires are synthesized at constant temperature of 970 C on Si substrate by gas condensation of pure SiO vapor without any metal catalysts, by controlling the coverage of SiO_x deposits. The morphologies are characterized by scan electron microscopy (SEM) and their evolution during the growth process is observed: from isolated clusters in earlier stage to linked cluster assemblies, and developing to smooth nanowires in the later stage. The growth mechanism is discussed based on the newly proposed clustering-aggregation-sintering model.