Self assembly of nanowires array with lattice directional growth

In this paper, 2D arrays of silicide nanowires have been grown with preferred orientations on silicon substrate of both Si(100) surface and Si(111) surface along with carbon nanotubes by using chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The two-fold growth symmetry on Si(100) and three-fold growth symmetry on Si(111) surface suggest the substrate lattice epitaxial growth mechanism. The nanowires and carbon nanotubes are characterized ex situ with scanning electron microscope and atomic force microscope and the lengths of nanowires are shown to range from several hundreds of nanometer to more than 2 micron.