Silicon nanowires (whiskers) have been grown on Si(111) via the vapor–liquid–solid (VLS) reaction using silane as the Si source gas and Au as the mediating solvent. The silane partial pressure and temperature ranges were 0.01–1 Torr and 320–600 °C, respectively. Growth at high partial pressure and low temperature leads to the growth of Si nanowires as thin as 10 nm. These wires are single crystals but exhibit growth defects such as bending and kinking. Lowering the silane partial pressure leads to an increase in the wire width and a reduction in the tendency to form growth defects. At low pressure, 40–100 nm wide well-formed wires have been grown at 520 °C. The VLS reaction using silane allows the growth of Si wires, which are significantly thinner than those grown previously using SiCl4.
The Vapor - Liquid - Solid (VLS ) technique allows the growth of high aspect ratio Si wires. The Si nanowires formed by this technique can be thinned down by oxidation. This approach allows the formation of very thin Si cores which may be used to research the properties of Si nanostructures. In this work the growth and oxidation of these wires is characterized.In the growth a very thin layer of Au is deposited on a Si (111) surface, silane gas is introduced into the chamber as the Si source gas and the temperature is raised to 300 – 600°C. Initially a catalytically active Au surface phase leads to the growth of a defective epitaxial Si layer. As Au / Si molten alloy balls nucleate and grow in size to approach the threshold size for VLS wire growth, which is determined by the Gibbs - Thomson effect, the epitaxial layer growth rate decreases and a transition to Si nanowire growth occurs. The morphology and width of the wires is strongly dependent on the growth temperature and pressure. At low pressure and high temperature relatively thick well-formed wires grow straight up from the substrate surface along the [111] direction. As the temperature is decreased and the pressure is increased thinner wires (as thin as 10 nm ) grow which tend to exhibit growth defects. A light oxidation yields Si cores which are of the order of 5 nm in diameter.
The basal-plane anisotropy of the antiferromagnetic phase of the hexagonal heavy-fermion superconductor UPd 2 Al 3 has been studied via the magnetic torque. Torque measurements were performed as functions of magnetic field and angle, with the field rotated in the a-b-plane, at temperatures between 4.2 and 30 K and in fields of up to 20 T. We interpret our results within a mean-field model and derive expressions for the basal-plane anisotropy energy. Further, we studied the anisotropy and temperature dependence of the metamagnetic transition of UPd 2 Al 3 at 18 T and we discuss its nature.
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