US Patent 7531472 - Silicon nanofiber

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7531472.html

This patent from a company called Visionarts in Japan teaches a manufacturing method for a silicon nanofiber structure based on silicon microcrystal grain growth. Claim 1 reads:

1. A nanofiber comprised of numerous nanowires, comprising silicon which is oriented and is bundled in a same direction as said nanowires, provided with a space between nanowires, such that the nanofiber has a stem shaped cross-sectional configuration.