Synthesis of silicon nanowires using tin catalyst by hot wire chemical vapor processing

Abstract Silicon nanowires (SiNWs) have been synthesized at temperatures in the range 300–400 °C by the hot wire chemical vapor processing (HWCVP) using tin nanotemplate. The tin nano-template is formed by hot wire atomic hydrogen treatment of thermally evaporated Sn films (∼300 nm thick) on glass substrates. Silicon nanowires are then grown using hot wire induced dissociation of SiH 4 gas over the nanotemplate. Growth conditions like growth time and temperature were varied to study their effect on the tin nanoparticle size and on the silicon nanowire dimensions thereafter. From the observations, it is clear that the nanowire diameters and lengths depend on the size of nanoparticles and the growth time respectively. Though SiNWs were observed to grow at temperatures as low as 300 °C, nanowires with a narrow diameter distribution were achieved at 400 °C. Raman spectra and transmission electron microscope (TEM) reveal the crystalline nature of the silicon nanowires.