Low-temperature electronic transport of manganese silicide shell-protected single crystal nanowires for nanoelectronics applications

Abstract

Recently, core–shell nanowires have been proposed as potential electrical connectors for nanoelectronics components. A promising candidate is Mn₅Si₃ nanowires encapsulated in an oxide shell, due to their low reactivity and large flexibility. In this work, we investigate the use of the one-step metallic flux nanonucleation method to easily grow manganese silicide single crystal oxide-protected nanowires by performing their structural and electrical characterization. We find that the fabrication method yields a room-temperature hexagonal crystalline structure with the c-axis along the nanowire. Moreover, the obtained nanowires are metallic at low temperature and low sensitive to a strong external magnetic field. Finally, we observe an unknown electron scattering mechanism for small diameters. In conclusion, the one-step metallic flux nanonucleation method yields intermetallic nanowires suitable for both integration in flexible nanoelectronics as well as low-dimensionality transport experiments.