Layer roughness reduction and light harvest from Ag nanowires on a silicon surface through wet etching embedding

摘要

Wet etching as a clean method for embedding Ag nanowires into a silicon substrate has been employed to reduce the Ag nanowires layer roughness. Close attachment of the etching holes with Ag nanowires with various diameters was obtained using a simple etching process. Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD) results show that the significant enhancement in light intensity and an increase in light path are caused by the embedding of Ag nanowires into the silicon substrate. These results show that embedding of Ag nanowires into a semiconductor material by etching can simultaneously lead to significant roughness reduction, light scattering enhancement, and charge collection capacity. It is expected that the embedding process will greatly improve the transparency and conductivity of semiconductor materials and has great potential for application in light emitting diodes (LEDs) or solar cells.