Silicon Needles Fabricated by Highly Selective Anisotropic Dry Etching and Their Field Emission Current Characteristics

Abstract

A new process to fabricate a silicon needle, whose tip radius is about 5 nm and aspect ratio is about 7, was developed. The silicon needles were fabricated by highly selective anisotropic dry etching. The etching mask was oxygen precipitation, which was formed by nitrogen ion implantation and the subsequent oxidation. The process is simple enough to be integrated with complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) circuits. The density of the silicon needle can be controlled by adjusting the dose for nitrogen ion implantation. The position of the silicon needle can be controlled by adjusting the position for nitrogen ion implantation, because silicon needles are formed only in the nitrogen ion implantation area. Furthermore, using these silicon needles as micro emitters, a field emission diode was fabricated. The Fowler-Nordheim plot shows that the field around the tip of the silicon needles was highly enhanced.

Batch Fabrication of Silicon Nanometer Tip Using Isotropic Inductively Coupled Plasma Etching

“…In contrast, dry etching process based on SF 6 , XeF 2 , and other gases can be precisely controlled by adjusting the gas flow rate, etching power, chamber pressure, and so on. Different dry etching approaches have been reported to achieve Si tips for various applications, for example, an isotropic dry etching process for tips with small height (3.6 μm) and large apex (25–40 nm) [ 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 ], a multi-step etching approach for “rocket tips” with height greater than 10 μm [ 36 , 37 , 38 ], the design of ultra-small masks for tips with aspect ratios larger than 5 but small height (less than 3 μm) [ 39 , 40 ]. However, all these approaches have difficulties in batch fabrication of high-end tips due to the complicated process, the strict mask preparation, and low yield.…”

Analysis on Self-Organized Formation of Nanofibers on Diamond-Like Carbon Film Surface during RF O₂ Plasma Etching

“…For example, formation of fine needles or cones from Si wafers or diamond crystals have been demonstrated to enhance their field emission (FE) properties [1,2]. For stable FE with high current density, crystalline diamond is a promising base material due to its exceptional properties of high thermal conductivity, chemical inertness, high mechanical hardness, and so on.…”

A Wafer-Level Vacuum Package Using Glass-Reflowed Silicon Through-Wafer Interconnection for Nano/Micro Devices

“…These include carbon nano tubes, 1 nanotweezers, 2 photonic crystal waveguides, 3 nano resonators, 4 atomic force microscopes 5 and field emission displays. 6 However, reliability has been a barrier for NMD sachieving commercial success. Among various solutions for this problem, vacuum packaging of devices is considered as the best solution.…”