MILLIMETER-LONG SILICON NANOWIRES: CONTROLLED SYNTHESIS, ASSEMBLY, AND DEVICE INTEGRATION

Abstract

One-dimensional (1D) silicon nanowires (SiNWs) are currently of great interest as one of the most useful and powerful forms of Si nanostructures for fabricating numerous nanodevices including field-effect transistors (FETs), memories, light emitting diodes, and biological sensors. More complex device arrays and simple circuits, including logic gates, ring oscillators, and multiplexed biosensors have been demonstrated by interconnection of multi-NW devices. A complementary approach for device integration would be to employ ultra-long NWs with multiple devices on a single NW, assuming that materials with uniform structure and electronic properties could be prepared. Ultra-long NWs could also benefit overall integration by facilitating interconnection of nanoelectronic device arrays, which are defined on single NWs, to larger scale input/output wires in a system.