Selective growth and ordering of SiGe nanowires for band gap engineering

Selective growth and self-organization of silicon-germanium (SiGe) nanowires (NWs) on focused ion beam (FIB) patterned Si(111) substrates is reported. In its first step, the process involves the selective synthesis of Au catalysts in SiO₂-free areas; its second step involves the preferential nucleation and growth of SiGe NWs on the catalysts. The selective synthesis process is based on a simple, room-temperature reduction of gold salts (Au³⁺Cl₄⁻) in aqueous solution, which provides well-organized Au catalysts. By optimizing the reduction process, we are able to generate a bidimensional regular array of Au catalysts with self-limited sizes positioned in SiO₂-free windows opened in a SiO₂/Si(111) substrate by FIB patterning. Such Au catalysts subsequently serve as preferential nucleation and growth sites of well-organized NWs. Furthermore, these NWs with tunable position and size exhibit the relevant features and bright luminescence that would find several applications in optoelectronic nanodevices.