Indium-Assisted Plasma-Enhanced Low-Temperature Growth of Silicon Oxide Nanowires

The nanowires of the silicon oxide SiO_x (x ≤ 2) are synthesized on an indium catalyst by the gas-jet electron beam plasma chemical vapor deposition (GJ EBP CVD) method using a monosilane-argon-hydrogen mixture with the simultaneous supply of the oxygen into the vacuum chamber. The arrays of the aligned microropes (bundles) of nanowires are formed at the substrate temperatures of 200–335 °С. At the temperature of 160 °С the cocoon-like structures of SiO_x nanowires are synthesized. The obtained results are explained within the synthesis model suggested previously. The Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) transmittance spectra are recorded to study the chemical composition of the nanowires. It is shown that the nanowires synthesized at temperatures of 200–335 °С consist of SiO_x with x = 1.93 ± 0.04. The arrays of the oriented microropes of the SiO_x nanowires exhibit the intense photoluminescence at a room temperature with a maximum in a range of the energies from 2 to 3 eV. The photoluminescence spectra of the oriented microropes synthesized on silicon substrates with the indium catalyst are shifted toward lower energies from 2.7–2.8 to 2.4–2.5 eV at the changing growth temperatures from 200 to 335 °C.