Ultrahigh Incorporation of Tin in SiSn Nanowires Grown via In-Plane Solid-Liquid-Solid Mechanism

We report on the growth of sn-catalyzed in-plane silicon nanowires (SiNWs) using the solid–liquid-solid (SLS) mechanism and their application to nano-electronics. The in-plane SLS growth process allows us to obtain very high tin concentrations ∼ 10 at.% (more than 1000 times the expected concentration from the phase diagram). The growth is achieved in a plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition reactor, in a single pump-down process. Atom probe tomography (APT) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) are used to assess the composition of these SiSn NWs. The atomic-scale investigation shows that Sn atoms are similarly distributed in crystalline SiSn NWs grown at 300 °C and 400 °C, with different sn-enrichments along structural defects. A NW-based field-effect transistor (FET) is fabricated in which a SiSn NW is implemented as the channel for charge transport, reaching a field effect hole mobility of 80 cm²/V.s.