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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 February 2011
A theoretical analysis explaining non-catalytic growth of one-dimensional (1D) nanorods on a substrate is presented. The nuclei undergo cluster migration which continues until the mean free time of the adatoms is larger than surface diffusion time during several consecutive nuclei growth steps. The most probable mechanism is the migration of six adatoms into one fixed adatom. After the cluster migration, the nuclei grow in an isotropic manner, until the nucleus reaches the size limit. The 1D growth of nanorods on the nuclei begins when the reactant dose is smaller than a certain value. The growth rate of the height is greater than that of the radius. This difference in the growth rate causes the aspect ratio to increase with growth time. The presented analysis explains well the experimental results of the non-catalytic growth of nanorods.