Abstract
One-dimension tin oxide nano-structures have successfully been synthesized by microwave plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (MPECVD). In this study, the tin oxides (SnO2) 「Nanopins」 were fabricated on a silicon subtrate with gold catalyst. In other works, it was also found that SnO2 nanowire can be grown directly on silicon or on alumina substrate. In the first part of this research, the nanopin structure has been collected, because of its interesting morphology, therefore many works have been done to realize the growth mechanism of the 「Nanopin」. After a series of experiments, the growth mechanism is proposed as 「Self-catalytic VLS mechanism」. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observations reveal that the nanopins are uniform with a length about several micrometers, 50-60 nm in diameter closing to its head, and 10-20 nm in diameter of its body. The identification of the single nanopin was carried out by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and selected-area electron diffraction analysis (SAD) indicate that the nanowires are tetragonal rutile structure of SnO2, and its growth direction is along [001].