  In this paper, we study the morphologic interaction between graphene and Si
nanowires on a SiO2 substrate, using molecular mechanics simulations. Two cases
are considered: 1) a graphene nanoribbon intercalated by a single Si nanowire
on a SiO2 substrate and 2) a blanket graphene flake intercalated by an array of
Si nanowires evenly patterned in parallel on a SiO2 substrate. Various graphene
morphologies emerge from the simulation results of these two cases, which are
shown to depend on both geometric parameters (e.g., graphene nanoribbon width,
nanowire diameter, and nanowire spacing) and material properties (e.g.,
graphene-nanowire and graphene-substrate bonding strength). While the
quantitative results at the atomistic resolution in this study can be further
used to determine the change of electronic properties of graphene under
morphologic regulation, the qualitative understandings from this study can be
extended to help exploring graphene morphology in other material systems.
