1 INTRODUCTION
　1.1 Silicon and its significance
　1.2 Overview of one-dimensional materials
　1.3 From three-dimensional to one-dimensional silicon
　1.4 Progress in silicon nanowires research
2　OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT
3　RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
　3.1 Principle of the laser ablation method
　3.2 Experimental
4 CHARACTERIZATION OF SILICON NANOWIRES
　4.1 Morphologies of silicon nanowires
　4.2 Structure of silicon nanowires
　4.3 Special morphologies
　4.4 Photoluminescenee(PL)
　4.5 Effects of growth conditions
　 4.5.1 Different carrying gases
　 4.5.2 Different starting materials
　 4.5.3 Surface morphology of the target
　4.6 Synthesis by direct thermal evaporation
5 DISCUSSION ON GROWTH MECHANISM
6 APPLICATIoNS oF SILICoN NANOWIRES
7 SYNTHESIS AND CHARACT ERIZATIoN oF RELATED NANoWIRES
　7.1 Germanium nanowires
　7.2 Germanium dioxide nanowires
　7.3 Amorphous carbon nanowires
8.CoNCLUSIoNS
9.LIST AND ABSTRACT oF PUBLICATIoNS
10.APPENDICES　CHINESE TRANSLATION
REFERENCE
LIST 0F FIGURES AND TABLES
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS