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Directed deposition of silicon nanowires using neopentasilane as precursor and gold as catalyst
(2012)
In this work the applicability of neopentasilane (Si(SiH3)4) as a precursor for the formation of silicon nanowires by using gold nanoparticles as a catalyst has been explored. The growth proceeds via the formation of liquid gold/silicon alloy droplets, which excrete the silicon nanowires upon continued decomposition of the precursor. This mechanism determines the diameter of the Si nanowires. Different sources for the gold nanoparticles have been tested: the spontaneous dewetting of gold films, thermally annealed gold films, deposition of preformed gold nanoparticles, and the use of “liquid bright gold”, a material historically used for the gilding of porcelain and glass. The latter does not only form gold nanoparticles when deposited as a thin film and thermally annealed, but can also be patterned by using UV irradiation, providing access to laterally structured layers of silicon nanowires.
Perchlorinated polysilanes were synthesized by polymerization of tetrachlorosilane under cold plasma conditions with hydrogen as a reducing agent. Subsequent selective cleavage of the resulting polymer yielded oligochlorosilanes SinCl2n+2 (n = 2, 3) from which the octachlorotrisilane (n = 3, Cl8Si3, OCTS) was used as a novel precursor for the synthesis of single-crystalline Si nanowires (NW) by the well-established vapor–liquid–solid (VLS) mechanism. By adding doping agents, specifically BBr3 and PCl3, we achieved highly p- and n-type doped Si-NWs by means of atmospheric-pressure chemical vapor deposition (APCVD). These as grown NWs were investigated by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), as well as electrical measurements of the NWs integrated in four-terminal and back-gated MOSFET modules. The intrinsic NWs appeared to be highly crystalline, with a preferred growth direction of [111] and a specific resistivity of ρ = 6 kΩ·cm. The doped NWs appeared to be [112] oriented with a specific resistivity of ρ = 198 mΩ·cm for p-type Si-NWs and ρ = 2.7 mΩ·cm for n-doped Si-NWs, revealing excellent dopant activation.