The formation of axially intruded iron silicide nanowires is investigated for its potential applications in spintronics research. The ferromagnetic Fe3Si has a 125% volume increase per silicon atom over the original silicon nanowire, which leads to significant kinking of the nanowire. The kinetics of silicide formation were also investigated for intruded nickel silicide nanowires as dependent on nanowire diameter. Growth rate was found depend on nanowire radius R as 1/Rn where n is at least 0.5 and more likely 2. Individual differences among the nanowires indicate that in future studies it would be better to cumulatively anneal a single wire to remove the influence of wire to wire variability.
