Temperature-Dependent Nanofabrication on Silicon by Friction-Induced Selective Etching.

Chenning Jin,Lei Chen,Chen Xiao,Bingjun Yu,Linmao Qian

doi:10.1186/s11671-016-1438-1

Chenning Jin, Lei Chen + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s11671-016-1438-1

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Abstract

Friction-induced selective etching provides a convenient and practical way for fabricating protrusive nanostructures. A further understanding of this method is very important for establishing a controllable nanofabrication process. In this study, the effect of etching temperature on the formation of protrusive hillocks and surface properties of the etched silicon surface was investigated. It is found that the height of the hillock produced by selective etching increases with the etching temperature before the collapse of the hillock. The temperature-dependent selective etching rate can be fitted well by the Arrhenius equation. The etching at higher temperature can cause rougher silicon surface with a little lower elastic modulus and hardness. The contact angle of the etched silicon surface decreases with the etching temperature. It is also noted that no obvious contamination can be detected on silicon surface after etching at different temperatures. As a result, the optimized condition for the selective etching was addressed. The present study provides a new insight into the control and application of friction-induced selective nanofabrication.

Highlights

Owing to its excellent physical and mechanical properties and low cost to obtain, monocrystalline silicon has become a preferred semiconductor material [1]
The native oxide layer was removed by HF solution before consequent etching in KOH-based solution, and obvious selective etching began within much less immersing time
The effect of temperature on the friction-induced selective etching was presented for fabricating nanostructures on the Si surface, and the temperature-dependent performance of the silicon surface was addressed

Summary

Introduction

Owing to its excellent physical and mechanical properties and low cost to obtain, monocrystalline silicon has become a preferred semiconductor material [1]. Silicon is widely used for micro/nanoelectromechanical systems (MEMS/NEMS) [2], solar photovoltaic battery [3], template for nanoimprint [4], substrate for quantum dot growth and so on [5, 6]. Nanofabrication on silicon is essential to support these applications. Plenty of micro/nano-manufacture technologies have been used, including photolithography, nanoimprint lithography, electron beam lithography, probe-based anodic oxidation technology and so on [7]. With the requirement for high resolution and low cost, the existing techniques encounter challenges and none of them can satisfy all the needs at the same time [8]. How to fabricate silicon with low cost and high resolution is of much concern

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