Synthesis of silicon oxide nanowires by the GJ EBP CVD method using different diluent gases

Abstract

Nanowires of silicon oxide SiOx (x ≤ 2) were synthesized from a mixture of monosilane and hydrogen (helium, argon) by gas‐jet electron beam plasma chemical vapor deposition (GJ EBP CVD) method with simultaneous supply of oxygen into the vacuum chamber. The synthesis was performed on monocrystalline silicon and glass substrates coated with micron‐sized particles of a tin catalyst. In particular, aligned arrays of nanowire bundles (microropes) were synthesized from a mixture of monosilane and hydrogen (argon). A bundle of amorphous silicon oxide nanowires, each of which is about 15 nm in diameter, grows from a catalyst particle. The growth rate of the microropes is about 25 nm s−1 at a synthesis temperature of 320–330 °C. The morphology of the nanostructures was investigated by transmission and scanning electron microscopy, their composition by X‐ray energy dispersive spectroscopy and optical properties by photoluminescence spectroscopy. The synthesis was carried out using the well‐known vapor–liquid–solid (VLS) mechanism. A model is proposed for the synthesis of the nanostructures by the above method, including the formation of aligned bundles of nanowires (microropes) due to nonuniform heating of the catalyst particle by directed plasma flow. The obtained nanostructures have intense photoluminescence in the visible region of the spectrum at room temperature.