Influence Of Gold Catalyst On The Growth O Titanium Nitride Nanowires

A systematic study was conducted to investigate the influence of thickness and size of gold (Au) catalyst nanodots on the growth and morphological properties of titanium nitride (TiN) nanowires. The diameter and the length of the nanowires are significantly influenced by the size of the nanodot. The fabrication of TiN nanowires induced by Au catalyst was successfully achieved at 800 degrees C. The diameters of the resulting nanowires range between 9-13 nm and their lengths range from 96-430 nm. This study showed that Au nanodots with diameters in the range of 10-13 nm are favorable to the growth of TiN nanowires. Au nanodots size with diameters less than 10 nm are not able to induce the growth CA TN nanowires due to their high activation energy. Furthermore, when the size of the nanodot is larger than 14 nm, the particle tends to behave as a bulk Au and it loses its catalytic activity. The existence of a lower and upper threshold limit in the size of the Au nanodots is marked by the absence of TiN nanowire formation in both regions.