Abstract
This work reviews the use of porous silicon (PS) as a nanomaterial which is extensively investigated and utilized for various applications, e.g., in the fields of optics, sensor technology and biomedicine. Furthermore the combination of PS with one or more materials which are also nanostructured due to their deposition within the porous matrix is discussed. Such nanocompounds offer a broad avenue of new and interesting properties depending on the kind of involved materials as well as on their morphology. The filling of the pores performed by electroless or electrochemical deposition is described, whereas different morphologies, reaching from micro- to macro pores are utilized as host material which can be self-organized or fabricated by prestructuring. For metal-deposition within the porous structures, both ferromagnetic and non-magnetic metals are used. Emphasis will be put on self-arranged mesoporous silicon, offering a quasi-regular pore arrangement, employed as template for filling with ferromagnetic metals. By varying the deposition parameters the precipitation of the metal structures within the pores can be tuned in geometry and spatial distribution leading to samples with desired magnetic properties. The correlation between morphology and magnetic behaviour of such semiconducting/magnetic systems will be determined. Porous silicon and its combination with a variety of filling materials leads to nanocomposites with specific physical properties caused by the nanometric size and give rise to a multiplicity of potential applications in spintronics, magnetic and magneto-optic devices, nutritional food additives as well as drug delivery.
Highlights
In today’s nanoscience there is an increasing demand for low-dimensional and nanostructured systems
New physical properties appear, when a structure becomes smaller than a characteristic length scale which is of great interest in basic research and for applications as nanometric size integrated circuits [1], in optoelectronics [2] and in magnetic materials for magneto-optical devices [3], as perpendicular media for high density data storage [4] as well as in nanostructures used as functionalized sensors in nanobiology [5]
Porous silicon is a versatile material which can be employed in many fields of nano-science research, and for a great number of applications
Summary
In today’s nanoscience there is an increasing demand for low-dimensional and nanostructured systems. New physical properties appear, when a structure becomes smaller than a characteristic length scale which is of great interest in basic research and for applications as nanometric size integrated circuits [1], in optoelectronics [2] and in magnetic materials for magneto-optical devices [3], as perpendicular media for high density data storage [4] as well as in nanostructures used as functionalized sensors in nanobiology [5]. Nanoporous silicon (2–4 nm) generally can be achieved in using p-type as well as n-type silicon of low and moderate doping density, mesoporous silicon with pore-diameters from 5 to 50 nm is generally formed utilizing highly doped silicon as substrate and for macropore (>50 nm up to a few 10 μm) formation usually moderately doped silicon is employed [15] All these different types of porous silicon are used in basic research studies but are appropriate for potential applications
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