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Updated: Jun 22, 2026

Seedless Growth of Bismuth Nanowire Array via Vacuum Thermal Evaporation
Published on: December 21, 2015
From droplets to nanowires: dynamics of vapor-liquid-solid growth
1IBM Research Division, T. J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, New York 10598, USA.
Abstract:
Starting with a liquid eutectic droplet on a surface, we calculate its dynamical evolution into an epitaxial nanowire via the vapor-liquid-solid growth process. Our continuum approach incorporates kinetic effects and crystalline anisotropy in a natural way. Some realistic features appear automatically even for an isotropic solid, e.g., the tapered wire base. Crystal anisotropy leads to a richer variety of morphologies. For example, sixfold anisotropy leads to a wire shape having broken symmetry and an intriguing resemblance to the 110-oriented Si wires seen in Au-catalyzed growth on Si (111), while higher symmetry leads to a shape more like <111> Si wires.
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