Spatial features control of self-organised tungsten nanowire arrays

Self-organised tungsten nanowire arrays were produced by a recently established templateless method. Control of spatial features such as diameter and spacing of nanowires was successfully achieved by changing the growth rate during directional solidification. An increase in the growth rate from 1.4 μm s-1 to 55.5 μm s-1 led to a decrease in the nanowire diameter from 560 to 290 nm and the spacing from 3.5 μm to 1.7 μm. The scaling laws of the variation in nanowire diameter and spacing with growth rate are quantitatively determined. Distribution of both, the diameter and the spacing around the average value were quite narrow. Potential applications of such self-organised W nanowire arrays in nanotechnology are discussed. (copyright 2009 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim) (orig.)