Si-Nanowire System
Grows high quality arrays of 10,000 silicon nanowires at high temperatures in a controlled environment. Each nanowire is 20 microns long, and 100 nm long. Used to produce nanowire arrays for use in other experiments.
Our FirstNano Silicon Nanowire System grows single-crystal nanowires using an epitaxial method. The method begins with nanometre scale gold balls placed on a surface in a sealed chamber, and heated to 600° C. Next, the chamber is flooded with Silane (SiH4) gas. When the Silane comes in contact with the gold balls, the gold (Au) ball strips off the silicon – forming a Si-Au alloy – and releases 2H2 gas molecules. Once the gold ball is saturated as Si-Au, it extrudes pure silicon downwards, forming a silicon nanowire that lifts the gold ball as it grows.