Brilliant growth without gold

User rating: 3.8 / 5 after 23 vote(s)

Silicon nanowires produced with aluminium as a catalyst. (a) Schematic representation of a silicon nanowire. (b) Dyed scanning electron microscopic image of silicon nanowires (approximately 40 nanometers in diameter). Credit: Max Planck Institute for ...
Silicon nanowires produced with aluminium as a catalyst. (a) Schematic representation of a silicon nanowire. (b) Dyed scanning electron microscopic image of silicon nanowires (approximately 40 nanometers in diameter). Credit: Max Planck Institute for Microstructure Physics

Silicon nanowires can help to further reduce the size of microchips. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Microstructure Physics in Halle have for the first time developed single crystal silicon nanowires that fulfil the key criteria to this end. The researchers used aluminium as a catalyst to grow the nanowires. To date, scientists have usually deployed gold for this purpose. However, even traces of the precious metal have a drastically detrimental effect on the function of semiconductor components.


Full story »
All News summaries from Nanotechnology news
All News summaries for November 28, 2006

Nanoparticles Detect Telomerase Activity

Jul 24, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
Telomerase, an enzyme that prevents chromosomes from shortening when they divide, is widely suspected of playing a key role in making cancer cells immortal. Though researchers have developed a variety of methods for measuring ...

Material may help autos turn heat into electricity

Jul 24, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
Researchers have invented a new material that will make cars even more efficient, by converting heat wasted through engine exhaust into electricity. In the current issue of the journal Science, they describe a material ...

'Nanonet' circuits closer to making flexible electronics reality

Jul 23, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
Researchers have overcome a major obstacle in producing transistors from networks of carbon nanotubes, a technology that could make it possible to print circuits on plastic sheets for applications including ...

Nanoparticle Research Points to Energy Savings

Jul 23, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
(PhysOrg.com) -- Adding just the right dash of nanoparticles to standard mixes of lubricants and refrigerants could yield the equivalent of an energy-saving chill pill for factories, hospitals, ships, and ...

Artificial Lotus Effect: Carbon nanotubes with nanoscopic paraffin coating form superhydrophobic, self-cleaning surfaces

Jul 23, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
Never wash your car again? Never clean your windows? These may well become reality if it becomes possible to produce the right coatings—coatings that imitate the self-cleaning effect of the lotus blossom.
Goto Archive PhysOrg Forum Goto Archive Video Goto Archive Editorials Goto Archive Free Magazines Goto Archive Newsletter

News Archive