The Preparation of Silicon Nanowires Using Metal-Assisted Chemical Etching

Abstract

The preparation of silicon nanowires by metal catalytic chemical etching has the advantages of low cost and simple operation. This study attempts to use a silver-assisted chemical etching to prepare silicon nanowires. In the process of experiment we change the corrosive liquid concentration of corrosion and corrosion time to compare these factors on the surface topography of silicon nanowires in the preparation. The experimental results were observed by optical microscope and electron microscope. The experiment shows that in the process of etching, etching time of CLSM has had a huge impact, if etching time is short, the sample cannot generate silicon nanowires, while a long etching time will cause silicon erode up, finally dissolved in the etching liquid. The wafer surface surface morphology of honeycomb like, and the result shows that when the corrosive liquid concentration is 0.02mol/L and the corrosive time is four works better, formed the length 100-200nm and the line diameter 100μm and more uniform silicon nanowires.