Burning Match Oxidation Process of Silicon Nanowires Screened at the Atomic Scale

Silicon oxide nanowires hold great promise for functional nanoscale electronics. Here, we investigate the oxidation of straight, massively parallel, metallic Si nanowires. We show that the oxidation process starts at the Si NW terminations and develops like a burning match. While the spectroscopic s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nano letters 2008-08, Vol.8 (8), p.2299-2304
Main Authors: Padova, Paola De, Leandri, Christel, Vizzini, Sebastien, Quaresima, Claudio, Perfetti, Paolo, Olivieri, Bruno, Oughaddou, Hamid, Aufray, Bernard, Lay, Guy Le
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Condensed matter: structure, mechanical and thermal properties
Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science
rheology
Exact sciences and technology
Low-dimensional structures (superlattices, quantum well structures, multilayers): structure, and nonelectronic properties
Materials science
Nanocrystalline materials
Nanoscale materials and structures: fabrication and characterization
Physics
Surfaces and interfaces
thin films and whiskers (structure and nonelectronic properties)
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Summary:Silicon oxide nanowires hold great promise for functional nanoscale electronics. Here, we investigate the oxidation of straight, massively parallel, metallic Si nanowires. We show that the oxidation process starts at the Si NW terminations and develops like a burning match. While the spectroscopic signatures on the virgin, metallic part, are unaltered we identify four new oxidation states on the oxidized part, which show a gap opening, thus revealing the formation of a transverse internal nanojunction.
ISSN:1530-6984
1530-6992
DOI:10.1021/nl800994s