Factors affecting the growth of micro/nano-sized tungsten whiskers synthesised by vapour deposition

Abstract

In this paper, a large number of the micro/nano-sized tungsten single-crystalline whiskers were fabricated via a vapour deposition method. The morphology and structure of the whiskers were investigated using scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. The factors affecting the growth of tungsten whiskers were systematically studied, including temperature, holding time and the position of Si substrates. Results indicated that temperature, holding time and position of the Si substrates have significant effects on the growth of tungsten whiskers.

Keywords:

• crystal growth
• nanowires
• tungsten
• vapour deposition

Acknowledgments

Financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51174235), the Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University (NCET-10-0842) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2011JQ021) is appreciated.