An in-plane solid-liquid-solid growth mode for self-avoiding lateral silicon nanowires

We report an in-plane solid-liquid-solid (IPSLS) mode for obtaining self-avoiding lateral silicon nanowires (SiNW) in a reacting-gas-free annealing process, where the growth of SiNWs is guided by liquid indium drops that transform the surrounding a-Si H matrix into crystalline SiNWs. The SiNWs can be ∼mm long, with the smallest diameter down to ∼22nm. A high growth rate of >102nm/s and rich evolution dynamics are revealed in a real-time in situ scanning electron microscopy observation. A qualitative growth model is proposed to account for the major features of this IPSLS SiNW growth mode.