US Patent 7985666 - Silicon nanowire growth from silicon nanodots

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7985666.html

Typically the growth of silicon nanowire arrays use metal catalytic material such as gold as reaction sites that determine where the nanowires grow. This patent from  Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute teaches an alternative method using silicon nanodots which may allow for a higher areal density of nanowires to be produced. Claim 1 reads:

1. A method of manufacturing silicon nanowires comprising:

forming a silicon nanodot thin film having a plurality of silicon nanodots exposed on a substrate; and

growing the silicon nanowires on the silicon nanodot thin film using the silicon nanodots as a nucleation site.