Lithography-free fabrication of silicon nanowire and nanohole arrays by metal-assisted chemical etching

Abstract

We demonstrated a novel, simple, and low-cost method to fabricate silicon nanowire (SiNW) arrays and silicon nanohole (SiNH) arrays based on thin silver (Ag) film dewetting process combined with metal-assisted chemical etching. Ag mesh with holes and semispherical Ag nanoparticles can be prepared by simple thermal annealing of Ag thin film on a silicon substrate. Both the diameter and the distribution of mesh holes as well as the nanoparticles can be manipulated by the film thickness and the annealing temperature. The silicon underneath Ag coverage was etched off with the catalysis of metal in an aqueous solution containing HF and an oxidant, which form silicon nanostructures (either SiNW or SiNH arrays). The morphologies of the corresponding etched SiNW and SiNH arrays matched well with that of Ag holes and nanoparticles. This novel method allows lithography-free fabrication of the SiNW and SiNH arrays with control of the size and distribution.

Metal assisted chemical etching of silicon in the gas phase: a nanofabrication platform for X-ray optics

“…A metal film de-wetting process was reported as a lithography-free method to fabricate Si nanowires by MacEtch in liquid solution of HF and H 2 O 2 . 42 We used the de-wetting of the Pt nanopattern to produce a simple etching pattern to fabricate Si nanowires with a section size in the range of 10 to 100 nm by MacEtch in the gas phase. The use of an interconnected pattern has been demonstrated to effectively reduce the off-vertical catalyst movement.…”

Metal-assisted chemical etching of silicon and the behavior of nanoscale silicon materials as Li-ion battery anodes

“…It has been shown that the etching rate of Si using the HF/AgNO 3 method increases with increasing AgNO 3 concentration, etching time [99], and temperature [100].…”

Ultralow Optical and Electrical Losses via Metal‐Assisted Chemical Etching of Antireflective Nanograss in Conductive Mesh Electrodes

“…Many studies have implemented MacEtch to improve the optoelectronic device efficiency by lowering the reflectance. [ 19–23,29–31 ] Conventionally, antireflective structures fabrication process with MacEtch contains photolithography. To simplify the process, alternative lithography methods such as metal agglomeration, nanosphere lithography, and anodic aluminum oxide were applied.…”