A common application of nanometer-sized gold particles is as seed particles for growth of semiconductor nanowires, which are believed to act as highly promising building blocks in future electronic devices. In a majority of the reports of successful nanowire growth, gold has been the seed particle material of choice. In this review article we identify the different types of gold particles used to initiate nanowire growth, namely gold particles made from thin films, gold particles defined by lithographic methods, colloidal gold particles and aerosol-generated gold particles. The production and deposition methods are described and the advantages and disadvantages of the particle types are discussed. In addition we discuss different properties that seem to make gold the most universal material for nanowire seed particles.

中文翻译：

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金在纳米线结构制造中的应用

纳米尺寸的金颗粒的一个常见应用是作为生长半导体纳米线的种子颗粒，被认为是未来电子设备中非常有前途的构建块。在大多数成功纳米线生长的报告中，金一直是首选的种子颗粒材料。在这篇评论文章中，我们确定了用于启动纳米线生长的不同类型的金颗粒，即由薄膜制成的金颗粒、通过光刻方法定义的金颗粒、胶体金颗粒和气溶胶产生的金颗粒。描述了生产和沉积方法，并讨论了颗粒类型的优缺点。此外，我们讨论了不同的特性，这些特性似乎使金成为纳米线种子颗粒最通用的材料。