Open AccessRealization and Characterization of Aligned Silicon Nanowire Array With Thin Silver Film
Author(s) -
Yung-Jr Hung,
San-Liang Lee,
Kai-Chung Wu,
Yen-Ting Pan
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
ieee photonics journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.725
H-Index - 73
eISSN - 1943-0655
pISSN - 1943-0647
DOI - 10.1109/jphot.2011.2151277
Subject(s) - engineered materials, dielectrics and plasmas , photonics and electrooptics
Wafer-scale fabrication of aligned and uniform silicon nanowire (SiNW) arrays is achieved with good controllability and reproducibility by depositing a thin silver film on a silicon surface prior to wet etching. Fast SiNW formation with a rate of 1.4 μm/min is achieved with optimized process condition, while lower etching rate enables finer SiNW formation in a small open area. Realized SiNWs are demonstrated to have good material and optical properties. With the help of aligned SiNWs, we demonstrate the fabrication of a black nonreflecting silicon surface with a surface reflectivity of around 2-4% uniformly over a 4-in wafer area. This material is expected to be promising as a building block for various applications due to its low-cost and mass-producible fabrication and excellent characteristics.