Conductive-probe atomic force microscopy characterization of silicon nanowire

José Alvarez,Emmanuelle Rouvière,Linwei Yu,Simon Perraud,Jean-Pierre Simonato,Marie-Estelle Gueunier-Farret,Jean-Paul Kleider,Irène Ngo,Caroline Celle,Pere Rocai Cabarrocas,Céline Mouchet

doi:10.1186/1556-276x-6-110

Abstract

The electrical conduction properties of lateral and vertical silicon nanowires (SiNWs) were investigated using a conductive-probe atomic force microscopy (AFM). Horizontal SiNWs, which were synthesized by the in-plane solid-liquid-solid technique, are randomly deployed into an undoped hydrogenated amorphous silicon layer. Local current mapping shows that the wires have internal microstructures. The local current-voltage measurements on these horizontal wires reveal a power law behavior indicating several transport regimes based on space-charge limited conduction which can be assisted by traps in the high-bias regime (> 1 V). Vertical phosphorus-doped SiNWs were grown by chemical vapor deposition using a gold catalyst-driving vapor-liquid-solid process on higly n-type silicon substrates. The effect of phosphorus doping on the local contact resistance between the AFM tip and the SiNW was put in evidence, and the SiNWs resistivity was estimated.

Highlights

Silicon nanowires (SiNWs) are promising nanostructures which are expected to be integrated in building blocks for future microelectronics and optoelectronics devices [1,2,3]
The authors focus on the Conductive-probe atomic force microscopy (CP-atomic force microscopy (AFM)) characterization of horizontal silicon nanowires (SiNWs) produced via in-plane solid-liquid-solid (IPSLS) method and phosphorus-doped vertical SiNWs obtained through vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) technique
The topography allows it to point out long channels that were dug during the growth of SiNWs

Summary

Introduction

Silicon nanowires (SiNWs) are promising nanostructures which are expected to be integrated in building blocks for future microelectronics and optoelectronics devices [1,2,3]. The authors focus on the CP-AFM characterization of horizontal SiNWs produced via in-plane solid-liquid-solid (IPSLS) method and phosphorus-doped vertical SiNWs obtained through vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) technique.

Results

Conclusion