Nano-wire formation and selective adhesion on substrates by single ion track reaction in polysilanes

High density energy deposition by ion beams causes non-homogeneous crosslinking reaction of polysilane derivatives within a nano-sized cylindrical area along an ion trajectory, and gives /spl beta/-SiC based nano-wires of which sizes (length, thickness) and number densities are completely under control by changing the parameters of incident ion beams and molecular sizes of target polymers. Recently the techniques of position-selective single ion hitting have been developed for MeV order ion beams, however it is not sufficient to control precisely the positions of the nano-wires on the substrates. In the present study, we report the selective adhesion of nano-wires on Si substrates by the surface treatments before polymer coating, which enables the patterning of planted nano-wires on substrates and/or electrodes as candidates for nano-sized field emissive cathodes or electro-luminescent devices.