The vertical and epitaxial growth of long (up to a few microns) silicon nanowires on Si(1 1 1) substrates by electron beam evaporation (EBE) (10(-6)-10(-7) mbar) is demonstrated at temperatures between 600 and 700 degrees C following the vapour liquid-solid (VLS) growth mechanism from gold nanoparticles. The silicon atoms are provided by evaporating silicon at varying evaporation currents (I-E) between 35 and 80 mA, which results in growth rates between 1 and 100 nm/min. The growth peculiarities in the interaction triangle, evaporation current (I-E), growth temperature (T-S) and gold layer thickness (d(Au)) will be reported. Kinetic and energetic contributions to the morphology of silicon nanowires will be discussed. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.