Formation and Plasmonic Properties of silicon nanowire arrays producedby chemical etching

摘要

We have investigated the formation of silicon nanowire arrays by the use of a simple chemical etching approach. The etching characteristics of silicon nanowire arrays using wafers with diverse doping levels and several orientations have been examined. Furthermore, the etching solution, etching time and temperature were also considered in order to optimize the etching conditions to produce thinner and more orderly silicon nanowire arrays in registry with the substrate. Since this process takes advantage of a silver catalyst, we have also investigated various ways of forming the initial silver catalyst on the silicon surfaces, and we show that electroless Ag deposition, as well as e-beam thin film deposition of Ag, results in successful, highly aligned and ordered Si nanowire arrays after the etching step. In addition, we have also performed Surfaced Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) measurements on the nanowire arrays and on nanowires removed from the substrate.