Controlled growth of silicon carbide nanorods by rapid thermal process and their field emission properties

Silicon carbide nanorods with a typical diameter of about 20 nm and a length ranging from 100 nm to a few microns have been formed by rapid thermal processing (RTP) of thin films containing a mixture of carbon and iron over silicon wafers at temperatures ranging from 1000 to 1200 °C. It is proposed that SiC nanorods were formed by solid–liquid–solid process of Si and C with Fe as catalyst. The controllability offered by RTP is crucial as field emission study showed that the turn-on field of the SiC nanorods was a strong function of their length and number density.