A Fabrication Method for Realizing Vertically Aligned Silicon Nanowires Featuring Precise Dimension Control

Abstract

Silicon nanowires (SiNWs) have garnered considerable attention in the last few decades owing to their versatile applications. One extremely desirable aspect of fabricating SiNWs is controlling their dimensions and alignment. In addition, strict control of surface roughness or diameter modulation is another key parameter for enhanced performance in applications such as photovoltaics, thermoelectric devices, etc. This study investigates a method of fabricating silicon nanowires using electron beam lithography (EBL) and the deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) Bosch process to achieve precisely controlled fabrication. The fabricated nanowires had a pitch error within 2% of the pitch of the direct writing mask. The maximum error in the average diameter was close to 25%. The simplified two-step method with tight control of the dimensions and surface tunability presents a reliable technique to fabricate vertically aligned SiNWs for some targeted applications.

Keywords

• silicon nanowire
• e-beam lithography
• EBL
• dry etching
• DRIE
• nanofabrication