Investigating and understanding the initial growth mechanisms of catalyst-free growth of 1D SiC nanostructures

Abstract

The vapor–solid mechanism of 1D SiC nanostructure growth is examined. The chemical vapor deposition parameters were controlled to estimate their effects on SiC nanowhisker (NW) growth and cross-sectional microimages of the NWs were examined to identify the key factors which induce the initial NW growth. According to our careful investigation, we propose that noncatalytic NW growth is a kinetic driven process that occurs when a high density of small critically sized islands exist, which corresponds to the case of a low deposition rate and high surface diffusion.