Silicon nanowires have unique optical effects, and have potential applications in photodetectors. They can exhibit simple optical effects such as anti-reflection, but can also produce quantum confined effects. In this work, we have fabricated silicon photodetectors, and then post-processed them by etching nanowires on the incident surface. These nanowires were produced by a wet-chemical etching process known as the metal-assisted-chemical etching, abbreviated as MACE. N-type silicon substrates were doped by thermal diffusion from a solid ceramic source, followed by etching, patterning and contact metallization. The detectors were first tested for functionality and optical performance. The nanowires were then made by depositing an ultra-thin film of gold below its percolation thickness to produce an interconnected porous film. This was then used as a template to etch high aspect ratio nanowires into the face of the detectors with a HF:H₂O₂ mixture.

Date Published: 15 September 2016
PDF: 5 pages
Proc. SPIE 9927, Nanoengineering: Fabrication, Properties, Optics, and Devices XIII, 992707 (15 September 2016); doi: 10.1117/12.2238480

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9927:
Nanoengineering: Fabrication, Properties, Optics, and Devices XIII
Eva M. Campo; Elizabeth A. Dobisz; Louay A. Eldada, Editor(s)