Abstract
A combination of template-assisted metal catalytic etching and self-limiting oxidation has been successfully implemented to yield core-shell silicon nanowire arrays with inner diameter down to sub-10 nm. The diameter of the polystyrene spheres after reactive ion etching and the thickness of the deposited Ag film are both crucial for the removal of the polystyrene spheres. The mean diameter of the reactive ion-etched spheres, the holes on the Ag film, and the nanowires after metal catalytic etching exhibit an increasing trend during the synthesis process. Two-step dry oxidation and post-chemical etching were employed to reduce the diameter of the silicon nanowires to approximately 50 nm. A self-limiting effect was induced by further oxidation at lower temperatures (750°C ~ 850°C), and core-shell silicon nanowire arrays with controllable diameter were obtained.
Highlights
Silicon is one of the most important semiconductor materials due to its crucial role in modern integrated circuit technology
We demonstrate a technique based on a combination of template-assisted metal catalytic etching [25,26,27,28] and self-limiting oxidation to prepare large-scale core-shell Silicon nanowire (SiNW) arrays with an aspect ratio of more than 200:1 and the inner diameter of sub-10 nm
It should be noted that the diameter of the PS spheres after Republic of China ion etching (RIE) treatment, the spaces between the PS spheres, and the thickness of the Ag film deposited are important for the removal of the sphere template and the following chemical etching
Summary
Silicon is one of the most important semiconductor materials due to its crucial role in modern integrated circuit technology. It is considered that silicon nanostructure, with diameter below the Bohr radius of silicon (4.3 nm), could conquer the physical disability of poor luminescence in bulk Si [11,12]. Several silicon nanostructures, such as porous Si [13,14,15] and Si nanocrystals [16,17,18], have been widely studied in the past 20 years. Little attention has been paid to the luminescence property of silicon nanowires (SiNWs) due to the difficulty of preparing nanowires with the diameter of several nanometers. Another typical method is a combination of electron beam lithography (EBL), reactive
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