Formation of epitaxial Co1−xNixSi2 nanowires on thin-oxide-capped (001)Si

Epitaxial Co1−xNixSi2 alloy nanowires have been grown on (001)Si substrates by a combination of reactive deposition epitaxy and oxide-mediated epitaxy. The thin native oxide layer can serve as a diffusion barrier to diminish the flux of metal atoms from the top of oxide layer to Si surface and promote the growth of nanowires. The elemental distributions of Ni and Co in nanowires were determined by energy dispersive spectroscopy in a transmission electron microscope. The factors that cause the distributions of Ni and Co in nanowires were discussed.