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Analysis of the images suggests that the nanowires correspond to at least 50% of the total product. The remainder of the product corresponds to clusters containing Si Fe and O.

Analysis of the high-resolution images shows that the Si(111) planes may be oriented from 90° to 85° relative to the growth axis.

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We thank F. Spaepen W. Klemperer J. H. Chen and R. Gordon for discussions and Y. Lu and M. Frongillo for their help in obtaining TEM data. C.M.L. acknowledges support of this work by the Office of Naval Research and the NSF Materials Research Science and Engineering Center.