Selective growth of silica nanowires in silicon catalysed by Pt thin film

Abstract

Selective growth of amorphous silica nanowires on a silicon wafer deposited with Pt thin film is reported. The mechanism of nanowire growth has been established to follow the vapour liquid solid (VLS) model via the PtSi phase acting as the catalyst. Nanowires grow with diameters ranging from 50 to 500 nm. These bottom-up grown nanowires exhibit photoluminescence with a stable emission of blue light at 430 nm under excitation. The effect of varying the seed layer thickness (Pt film) from 2 to 100 nm has been studied. It is observed that, above 10 nm thickness, a continuous layer of Pt(2)Si re-solidifies on the surface, inhibiting the growth of nanowires. The selectivity to the Pt thickness has been exploited to create regions of nanowires connected to conducting silicide (Pt(2)Si) simultaneously in a single furnace treatment. This novel approach has opened the gateways for realizing hybrid interconnects in silicon for various nano-optical applications such as the localization of light, low-dimensional waveguides for functional microphotonics, scanning near-field microscopy, and nanoantennae.

Amorphous SiOx nanowires catalyzed by metallic Ge for optoelectronic applications

“…(1) The Si nanowires may be firstly nucleated on the catalysts after Si diffuses into the catalyst. And then the residual oxygen in the tube furnace reacts with the Si nanowire and oxides to create a SiO x shell until Si nanowire's complete oxidation [42,43]. (2) The diffused Si atoms on the substrate react with the residual oxygen in the tube furnace to form SiO x as the sources.…”

Growth, structural, Raman, and photoluminescence properties of rutile TiO2 nanowires synthesized by the simple thermal treatment

“…They found that the growth of a-Si nanowires was controlled by a solid-liquid-solid (SLS) mechanism, in which the only possible Si source came from the Si substrate and Si nanowires grow from the Si x Ni eutectic liquid droplets. Similarly, the growth of SiO x nanowires on Si was reported using a Pd/Au thin film [28], a Pt thin film [29], and a Co thin film as catalysts [30], in which the Si source was Si substrate. In these cases, the tips of the nanowires are supposed to comprise metal silicide particles, playing a catalytic role.…”

On the growth and magnetic properties of flower-like nanostructures formed on diffusion of FePt with Si substrate

“…A metastable Pt 2 Si 3 phase was also reported. Besides the complexity of phases and the growth kinetics, Fe-and Pt-silicides are considered to be very important in the electronic industry for making Ohmic contacts, and are also used as a catalyst for the growth of various nano-structures [37,38]. Fig.…”