ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an outline of synthetic routes for the production of silicon nanowires (SiNWs) and their electronic doping through ion implantation, followed by a discussion of how doped SiNWs are influencing research in a range of fields including microelectronics and biomedicine. It focuses on the formation of ion-implanted SiNWs which describes the main processing and fabrication routes to prepare ion-implanted SiNWs. The production of SiNWs is accomplished through one of two methods: nanowires can be grown through a bottom-up approach based on molecular precursors in either a gas or aqueous phase, or nanowires can be chemically etched in a top-down fashion from a silicon substrate. The chapter discusses the optical, electronic, and thermal properties of ion-implanted SiNWs. The optical properties of silicon are determined by its indirect band gap which results in a low optical absorption coefficient in both visible and near-infrared (NIR) spectral regions. The chapter explains several kinds of applications including those in biomedicine/photothermal heating, and optoelectronics.
