Stress-induced Sn Nanowires from Si-Sn Nanocomposite Coatings

The growth of stress-induced tin (Sn) whiskers has been considered responsible for the failure of many electronic devices and many approaches have been developed to mitigate their growth. In this report, however, we describe a simple approach based on the same mechanism to promote the growth of Sn nanowires. The thermal expansion induced stress was utilized as the driving force to initiate the growth of Sn nanowires from Si-Sn phase-separated nanocomposite coatings. The nanostructure of the Si-Sn matrix was the key to controlling the shape and diameter of Sn nanowires. This approach provides additional flexibility for making desirable metallic nanowires with controlled dimensions. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3498673]