Fabrication and characterization of boron nanowires at relatively low temperature

Abstract

Large-scale crystalline boron nanowires (BNWs) were synthesized by a simple chemical vapor deposition method on Au-coated Si substrates using two kinds of innoxious and inexpensive reactant materials as the precursor at relatively low temperature (⩽1000°C). The morphology and structural properties of samples were characterized by SEM, TEM, SAED, and XPS analytic instruments. The BNWs have lengths of several tens of micrometers with diameters of 80–150 nm. SAED and HRTEM analytic results testified that BNWs were single crystal core with a thin oxide sheath. By comparison of the BNW samples synthesized at difference temperatures, we conclude that BNWs have lower growth rate at 950°C, whilst the suitable growth rate can be gained at 1000°C. This result shows that BNWs can be synthesized via one step CVD process at 1000°C, and overly high growth temperature (⩾1200°C) is probably unnecessary.