Effect of the line tension at the vapor-liquid-solid boundary on the growth of silicon nanocrystals

Abstract

We examine the thermodynamic aspects of the effect of the line tension at a bent vapor-liquid-solid boundary on quasi-one-dimensional growth of silicon nanowires. Experimental data demonstrate that there is a limiting size of solvent nanodrops below which they cannot exist in equilibrium and that there is a limiting nanowire diameter starting at which the increase in line tension with decreasing diameter prevents nanocrystal growth at a given supersaturation.