Synthesis and characterization of crystalline germanium nanowires grown from Ag-based catalysts

Germanium nanowires were synthesized by vapor-liquid-solid method with silver nanoparticles as metal catalyst. The morphological study shows that the nanowires consist of single crystalline germanium with diamond structure, smaller than 100nm in diameter and with long range order. The electric properties were characterized in two distinct nanowire devices´ indicating hopping as the main carrier transport mechanism. Hopping distance was obtained around 4nm at 300K. The metal-Ge nanowires contact presented Schottky barrier of 0.46 eV for different metals and temperatures. Therefore, even with the high crystalline quality of the nanowires the surface disorder strongly influences the electric properties.