Published online by Cambridge University Press: 31 January 2011
Here we report a new in-plane solid-liquid-solid (IPSLS) mode for obtaining in-plane silicon nanowires (SiNW), which can be controlled and directly guided into various desired patterns for circuit architecture. Indium catalyst drops are firstly formed by a H2 plasma reduction of a thin layer of ITO on Corning glass substrate and then covered by an a-Si:H layer deposited at low temperature (100oC-200oC). The growth of SiNWs is activated in a reacting-gas-free thermal annealing process and led by the indium catalyst drops, that absorb and transform the a-Si:H matrix into crystalline SiNWs behind. At least two guided modes, that is, the a-Si:H channel guided mode and the step edge guided mode, can be applied to effectively control the growth routes for the lateral SiNWs. This guided growth of the IPSLS SiNWs lays an important basis for realizing various SiNWs-based device applications directly on top of low-cost substrates.