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Silicon Nanowires: A Review on Aspects of their Growth and their Electrical Properties
Author(s) -
Schmidt Volker,
Wittemann Joerg V.,
Senz Stephan,
Gösele Ulrich
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
advanced materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 10.707
H-Index - 527
eISSN - 1521-4095
pISSN - 0935-9648
DOI - 10.1002/adma.200803754
Subject(s) - materials science , silicon , nanowire , epitaxy , doping , dopant , electron mobility , nanotechnology , chemical vapor deposition , vapor–liquid–solid method , nanocrystalline silicon , strained silicon , optoelectronics , chemical physics , engineering physics , crystalline silicon , chemistry , layer (electronics) , amorphous silicon , engineering
This paper summarizes some of the essential aspects of silicon‐nanowire growth and of their electrical properties. In the first part, a brief description of the different growth techniques is given, though the general focus of this work is on chemical vapor deposition of silicon nanowires. The advantages and disadvantages of the different catalyst materials for silicon‐wire growth are discussed at length. Thereafter, in the second part, three thermodynamic aspects of silicon‐wire growth via the vapor–liquid–solid mechanism are presented and discussed. These are the expansion of the base of epitaxially grown Si wires, a stability criterion regarding the surface tension of the catalyst droplet, and the consequences of the Gibbs–Thomson effect for the silicon wire growth velocity. The third part is dedicated to the electrical properties of silicon nanowires. First, different silicon nanowire doping techniques are discussed. Attention is then focused on the diameter dependence of dopant ionization and the influence of interface trap states on the charge carrier density in silicon nanowires. It is concluded by a section on charge carrier mobility and mobility measurements.