Synthesis of Large Areas of Highly Oriented, Very Long Silicon Nanowires

Nanoscale forms of silicon, a very important electronic material, have interesting properties, but the investigation of Si nanowires, for example, has been hampered by difficulties in producing oriented samples. The authors report here the successful synthesis of large areas of highly oriented, very long (1.5–2 mm) Si nanowires—as shown in the Figure—by thermal evaporation of silicon monoxide.