Strain enhanced chemical oxidation of silicon wafer

Abstract

The effect of strain through mechanical processing on the formation of silicon dioxide, one of the most important chemical reactions for the fabrication of semiconductors, biosensors or photovoltaics, has not yet been studied in detail. In this study, we use the surface modification of silicon by alkylsilanes and Raman microscopy techniques to visualise where different oxidants react preferentially on mechanically processed surfaces. We found that HNO3, H2O2 as well as H2SiF6 only oxidise tensile strained silicon areas and do not oxidise unstrained silicon even after long reaction times. Furthermore, a comparison between H2O2 and HNO3 in the presence of HF was also carried out and it was shown that H2O2/HF only etches away tensile strained areas, whereas HNO3/HF initially attacks the tensile strained areas but also forms NOx species. These NOx species then lead to a strain unselective, geometry-based etching mechanism. These results lead to new possibilities in strain lithography, high-precision etching, as well as in the structuring of biosensors and localisation of surface modifications.