25 nm Single-Crystal Silicon Nanowires Fabricated by Anisotropic Wet Etching.

ABSTRACT

We report a top-down method for fabricating ultra-high aspect ratio single-crystal silicon nanowires. The fabrication method is based on the standard photolithography technique and anisotropic wet etching of the single-crystal silicon in KOH solution. SiO2 mask nanolines used for patterning single-crystal silicon nanowires are formed by the undercut etching of thin SiO2 layer in buffered hydrofluoric solution. The minimum width of the SiO2 mask nanolines are 50 nm. The length of SiO2 mask nanolines is 2 cm. The single-crystal silicon nanowires have been successfully transferred from the SiO2 mask nanolines by KOH anisotropic wet-chemical etching. The minimum width of the silicon nanowire has obtained to be 25 nm. The fabricated single-crystal silicon nanowires have trapezoidal and triangular cross sections, which are useful for applications in nanoelectronic and nanophotonic elements.