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A liquid-solution-phase technique for preparing submicrometer-sized silicon single crystals is presented. The synthesis is based on the reduction of SiCl(4) and RSiCl(3) (R = H, octyl) by sodium metal in a nonpolar organic solvent at high temperatures (385 degrees C) and high pressures (> 100 atmospheres). For R = H, the synthesis produces hexagonal-shaped silicon single crystals ranging from 5 to 3000 nanometers in size. For R = octyl, the synthesis also produces hexagonal-shaped silicon single crystals; however, the size range is controlled to 5.5 +/- 2.5 nanometers.
James R. Heath (Fri,) studied this question.