In-plane epitaxial growth of silicon nanowires and junction formation on Si(100) substrates

Growing self-assembled silicon nanowires (SiNWs) into precise locations represents a critical capability to scale up SiNW-based functionalities. We here report a novel epitaxy growth phenomenon and strategy to fabricate orderly arrays of self-aligned in-plane SiNWs on Si(100) substrates following exactly the underlying crystallographic orientations. We observe also a rich set of distinctive growth dynamics/modes that lead to remarkably different morphologies of epitaxially grown SiNWs/or grains under variant growth balance conditions. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy cross-section analysis confirms a coherent epitaxy (or partial epitaxy) interface between the in-plane SiNWs and the Si(100) substrate, while conductive atomic force microscopy characterization reveals that electrically rectifying p-n junctions are formed between the p-type doped in-plane SiNWs and the n-type c-Si(100) substrate. This in-plane epitaxy growth could provide an effective means to define nanoscale junction and doping profiles, providing a basis for exploring novel nanoelectronics.