In this study, we reported the design, fabrication, and characterization of well- ordered arrays of vertically-aligned, epitaxial NiSi2/Si heterostructures and single- crystalline NiSi2 nanowires on (001)Si substrat...In this study, we reported the design, fabrication, and characterization of well- ordered arrays of vertically-aligned, epitaxial NiSi2/Si heterostructures and single- crystalline NiSi2 nanowires on (001)Si substrates. The epitaxial NiSi2 with {111} facets was found to be the first and the only silicide phase formed inside the Si nanowires after annealing at a temperature as low as 300℃. Upon annealing at 500 ℃ for 4 h, the residual parts of Si nanowires were completely consumed and the NiSi2/Si heterostructured nanowires were transformed to fully silicided NiSi2 nanowires. XRD, TEM and SAED analyses indicated that all the NiSi2 nanowires were single crystalline and their axial orientations were parallel to the [001] direction. The obtained vertically-aligned NiSi2 nanowires, owing to their well-ordered arrangement, single-crystalline structure, and low effective work function, exhibit excellent field-emission properties with a very low turn-on field of 1.1 V/m. The surface wettability of the nanowires was found to switch from hydrophobic to hydrophilic after the formation of NiSi2 phase and the measured water contact angle decreased with increasing extent of Ni silicidation. The increased hydrophilicity can be explained by the Wenzel model. The obtained results present the exciting prospect that the new approach proposed here will provide the capability to fabricate other highly-ordered, vertically-aligned fully silicided nanowire arrays and may offer potential applications in constructing vertical silicide-based nanodevices.展开更多
In this report we explore the structural and optical properties of GaAs/A1GaAs heterostructure nanowires grown by metalorganic vapour phase epitaxy using gold seed-particles. The optical studies were done by low-tempe...In this report we explore the structural and optical properties of GaAs/A1GaAs heterostructure nanowires grown by metalorganic vapour phase epitaxy using gold seed-particles. The optical studies were done by low-temperature cathodo- luminescence (CL) in a scanning electron microscope (SEM). We perform a systematic investigation of how the nanowire growth-temperature affects the total photon emission, and variations in the emission energy and intensity along the length of the nanowires. The morphology and crystal structures of the nanowires were investigated using SEM and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). In order to correlate specific photon emission characteristics with variations in the nanowire crystal structure directly, TEM and spatially resolved CL measurements were performed on the same individual nanowires. We found that the main emission energy was located at around 1.48 eV, and that the emission intensity was greatly enhanced when increasing the GaAs nanowire core growth temperature. The data strongly suggests that this emission energy is related to rotational twins in the GaAs nanowire core. Our measurements also show that radial overgrowth by GaAs on the GaAs nanowire core can have a deteriorating effect on the optical quality of the nanowires. Finally, we conclude that an in situ pre-growth annealing step at a sufficiently high temperature significantly improves the optical quality of the nanowires.展开更多
文摘In this study, we reported the design, fabrication, and characterization of well- ordered arrays of vertically-aligned, epitaxial NiSi2/Si heterostructures and single- crystalline NiSi2 nanowires on (001)Si substrates. The epitaxial NiSi2 with {111} facets was found to be the first and the only silicide phase formed inside the Si nanowires after annealing at a temperature as low as 300℃. Upon annealing at 500 ℃ for 4 h, the residual parts of Si nanowires were completely consumed and the NiSi2/Si heterostructured nanowires were transformed to fully silicided NiSi2 nanowires. XRD, TEM and SAED analyses indicated that all the NiSi2 nanowires were single crystalline and their axial orientations were parallel to the [001] direction. The obtained vertically-aligned NiSi2 nanowires, owing to their well-ordered arrangement, single-crystalline structure, and low effective work function, exhibit excellent field-emission properties with a very low turn-on field of 1.1 V/m. The surface wettability of the nanowires was found to switch from hydrophobic to hydrophilic after the formation of NiSi2 phase and the measured water contact angle decreased with increasing extent of Ni silicidation. The increased hydrophilicity can be explained by the Wenzel model. The obtained results present the exciting prospect that the new approach proposed here will provide the capability to fabricate other highly-ordered, vertically-aligned fully silicided nanowire arrays and may offer potential applications in constructing vertical silicide-based nanodevices.
文摘In this report we explore the structural and optical properties of GaAs/A1GaAs heterostructure nanowires grown by metalorganic vapour phase epitaxy using gold seed-particles. The optical studies were done by low-temperature cathodo- luminescence (CL) in a scanning electron microscope (SEM). We perform a systematic investigation of how the nanowire growth-temperature affects the total photon emission, and variations in the emission energy and intensity along the length of the nanowires. The morphology and crystal structures of the nanowires were investigated using SEM and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). In order to correlate specific photon emission characteristics with variations in the nanowire crystal structure directly, TEM and spatially resolved CL measurements were performed on the same individual nanowires. We found that the main emission energy was located at around 1.48 eV, and that the emission intensity was greatly enhanced when increasing the GaAs nanowire core growth temperature. The data strongly suggests that this emission energy is related to rotational twins in the GaAs nanowire core. Our measurements also show that radial overgrowth by GaAs on the GaAs nanowire core can have a deteriorating effect on the optical quality of the nanowires. Finally, we conclude that an in situ pre-growth annealing step at a sufficiently high temperature significantly improves the optical quality of the nanowires.