Tuning endotaxial growth of CoSi2 nanowires and nanodots

The shape transition of the CoSi2 islands from nanowire to nanodot and vice versa can be controlled by using different growth temperatures. High growth temperatures favor the formation of ridge nanowires and flat square-nanodots. At lower growth temperatures, the nanowires become more dot-like while flat nanodots are more wire-like. The islands' length, width and height follow the Arrhenius relation with activation energies ranging from 0.4 – 1.6 eV. The shape-transition of these nanowires and nanodots are kinetically limited by thermally-activated processes.