Effect of Contact Mode on the Electrical Transport and Field-Emission Performance of Individual Boron Nanowires

Vapor–liquid–solid processing of boron nanowires (BNWs) can be carried out either using a bottom‐up or top‐down growth mode, which results in different contact modes between the nanowire and the substrate. The contact mode may strongly affect the electrical transport and field‐emission performance of the individual boron nanowires grown on a Si substrate. The electrical transport and field‐emission characteristics of individual boron nanowires of different contact modes are investigated in situ using a scanning electron microscope. The contact barriers are very distinct for the different contact modes. Moreover, the transition from a “contact‐limited” to a “bulk‐limited” field‐emission (FE) process is demonstrated in nanoemitters for the first time, and the proposed improved metal–insulator–vacuum (MIV) model may better illustrate the nonlinear behavior of the Fowler‐Nordheim (FN) plots in these nanoscale systems. Individual BNWs with different contact modes have a discrepancy in their emission stability and vacuum breakdown characteristics though they have similar aspect ratios, which suggests that their electrical transport and field‐emission performance are closely related to their contact mode. Boron nanowires grown in the base‐up mode have better field‐emission performances and are more beneficial than those grown in the top‐down mode for various device applications. Growing nanowires from the base up is essential for assuring better device performances. The contact mode between nanostructures and their substrate strongly affects the electrical transport and field‐emission behavior of boron nanowires. The in situ physical properties of individual boron nanowires with different contact modes are elaborated on and nanowires grown from the base up exhibit much better performances than those grown from the top down.