Nanocrystalline Ge filaments in the pores of a mesosilicate

Direct imaging showing pore filling of a mesopore (MCM-41) by a semiconductor has been achieved by transmission-electron microscopy (TEM). Ge was deposited using vapor-phase epitaxy where the mesopore wall hydroxyls acted as anchor points to seed the nucleation of semiconductor clusters in the mesosilicate channels. Dark-field TEM micrographs with diffraction contrast originating exclusively from germanium show sections of Ge crystallites taking the shape and periodicity of the mesosilicate, indicating that the deposited semiconductor can fill the hexagonal pores. This result shows promise for the use of mesopores as hosts for semiconductor quantum wire structures.