Silicon nanowires (SiNWs) have been synthesized on gold layer-coated silicon substrates via plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition method (PECVD). Various thicknesses of Au layers were coated on Si (111) substrates using radio frequency magnetron sputtering. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were used to characterize the morphology, compositions, and structures of the samples. The results show that the sample consisted of single-crystalline SiNWs with the diameters ranging from 40 to 160 nm and length up to 3 mu m. It was observed that the diameter of SiNWs increases with increasing of Au catalyst layers thickness. Raman spectra display peaks with narrow and asymmetric shape at 518 cm(-1) for the SiNWs, indicating the high crystalline nature of the samples. A possible growth mechanism is proposed for the formation of nanowires (NWs). It has been found that the features of SiNWs depend on the thickness of Au layers. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.