Au-Catalyst Silicon Nanowires Synthesized by Vapor-Liquid-Solid Technique in a V-Shaped Groove: Application for Gas Sensors

Au-catalyst Vapor Liquid Solid (VLS) silicon nanowires (SiNWs) with high density are synthesized on heavily doped polysilicon islands patterned on both sidewalls of the (100) oriented silicon substrate V-shaped groove. The resulting SiNWs network permits to interconnect two heavily doped polysilicon islands leading to the formation of a resistor inside the groove. The quantitative dynamic measurements under exposure of this device to a wide range of gas (ammonia) concentration (from 10 ppm to 350 ppm) were carried out and demonstrated the feasibility of highly sensitive SiNWs based resistors used as gas sensors.