A Framework of Growing Crystalline Nanorods

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The growth of crystalline nanorods has become a common practice in the absence of a solid framework, in either theoretical or conceptual form. This article presents such a framework and puts it in historical perspective of a broader field of crystal growth. This framework derives from three scientific advancements in crystal growth, with focus on multiple-layer surface steps: (I) the diffusion barrier of adatoms down multiple-layer surface steps, (II) the formation and stability of multiple-layer surface steps, and (III) the dimension of surface facets that are bounded by competing monolayer and multiple-layer surface steps. While this framework has only a partial foundation of theoretical formulation, it is more complete conceptually. As an example of impact, this framework predicts that growth of Al nanorods is not feasible using physical vapor deposition at ambient conditions; this prediction has not been proven wrong by any available experiments.