Epitaxial growth of silicon whiskers without tapering at the base

Based on the measured parameters of the tapered portion (pedestal) at the base of silicon whiskers, we show that the tapering is the consequence of the increase in the contact angle of the liquid droplet and is due to the fact that the surface free energy of the three-phase system is constant (zero increment) during whisker growth. The growth angle of nanowhiskers should depend on their cross-sectional size because of the effect of the line tension at the three-phase boundary. A procedure is proposed for whisker growth without tapering at the base.