Silicon nanowires (SiNWs) have successfully been synthesized by carbothermal evaporation method. By ramping-up the furnace system at 20 degrees C min(-1) to 1100 degrees C for 6 h, the vertically aligned coexist with crooked SiNWs were achieved on the silicon substrate located at 12 cm from source material. The processing parameters such as temperature, heating rate, duration, substrate position and location are very important to produce SiNWs. Morphology and chemical composition of deposited products were investigated by field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) equipped with energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX). The existence of small sphere silicon oxide capped nanowires suggested that the formation of SiNWs was governed by oxide-assisted growth (OAG) mechanism. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.