Bringing Order to the World of Nanowire Devices by Phase Shift Lithography

Abstract

Semiconductor nanowire devices have several properties which match future requirements of scaling down the size of electronics. In typical microelectronics production, a number of microstructures are aligned precisely on top of each other during the fabrication process. In the case of nanowires, this mandatory condition is still hard to achieve. A technological breakthrough is needed to accurately place nanowires at any specific position and then form devices in mass production. In this article, an upscalable process combining conventional micromachining with phase shift lithography will be demonstrated as a suitable tool for nanowire device technology. Vertical Si and ZnO nanowires are demonstrated on very large (several cm(2)) areas. We demonstrate how the nanowire positions can be controlled, and the resulting nanowires are used for device fabrication. As an example Si/ZnO heterojunction diode arrays are fabricated. The electrical characterization of the produced devices has also been performed to confirm the functionality of the fabricated diodes.

Field-effect passivation on silicon nanowire solar cells

“…Axial n-p junction nanowires were fabricated by means of a two-step near-field phase-shift lithography as reported elsewhere [27]. Below we give the details of the fabrication process of the mask and nanowire array solar cells, including the passivation step.…”

Molecular beam epitaxy of InAs nanowires in SiO2nanotube templates: challenges and prospects for integration of III–Vs on Si

“…First, Si nanopillars were defined by phase shift photolithography (PSL) followed by reactive ion etching, as in Refs. [18,23]. The pillars were ~500 nm high and with diameters ranging from 150 to 450 nm.…”

Large‐Scale Nano Piezo Force Position Arrays as Ultrahigh‐Resolution Micro‐ and Nanoparticle Tracker

“…In a similar manner to PSL techniques, interference‐lithography‐based maskless techniques (e.g., laser interference lithography) are also capable of fabricating ordered line patterns in these dimensions. PSL offers big advantages in terms of precision on 4 inch wafers or even larger ones, which allows an additional alignment for complex nanostructures 10, 11. The PSL mask is fabricated by a normal photolithography layout and the design is composed of step lines of 1 μm separation and 1 cm length, with a depth adjusted to the desired interference enhancement.…”