Self-aligned silicon quantum wires on Ag(110)

Upon deposition of silicon onto the (1 1 0) surface of a silver crystal we have grown massively parallel one-dimensional Si nanowires. They are imaged in scanning tunnelling microscopy as straight, high aspect ratio, nanostructures, all with the same characteristic width of 16 +, perfectly aligned along the atomic troughs of the bare surface. Low energy electron diffraction confirms the massively parallel assembly of these self-organized nanowires. Photoemission reveals striking quantized states dispersing only along the length of the nanowires, and extremely sharp, two-components, Si 2p core levels. This demonstrates that in the large ensemble each individual nanowire is a well-defined quantum object comprising only two distinct silicon atomic environments. We suggest that this self-assembled array of highly perfect Si nanowires provides a simple, atomically precise, novel template that may impact a wide range of applications.