  This Letter reports a generalized theory of the smallest diameter of metallic
nanorods from physical vapor deposition. The generalization incorporates the
effects of nanorod separation and those of van der Waals interactions on
geometrical shadowing. In contrast, the previous theory for idealized
geometrical shadowing [Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 136102 (2013)] does not include
any dependence on nanorod separation and it predicts the diameter to be about
to of what the generalized theory does. As verification, numerical solutions
and the generalized theory in closed-form agree in terms of effective
deposition flux. As validation, experiments of physical vapor deposition and
the generalized theory agree in terms of the diameter as a function of the
separation of nanorods.
