Silicon Nanostructures Fabricated by Scanning Probe Lithography and TMAH Etching

Published

January 1, 2002

Author(s)

F S. Chien, W F. Hsieh, S Gwo, Andras Vladar, John A. Dagata

Abstract

Fabrication of silicon nanostructures is a key technique for the development of monolithically integrated optoelectronic circuits. We demonstrate that the process of scanning probe lithography (SPL) and anisotropic TMAH etching is a low-cost and reliable method to produce smooth and uniform silicon nanostructures on a variety of silicon substrates. Etched structures with a pitch of 100 nm, positive- and negative-contrast structures, and features height greater than 100 nm have been produced on bare silicon, Si3N4-coated and silicon-on-insulator wafers. Evolution of hexagonal pits on two-dimensional grid structures are shown to depend on the pattern spacing and orientation with respect to (110)-silicon crystal directions. We successfully combined SPL with traditional optical lithographyin a mixed, multilevel patterning method for realizing micrometer- and nanometer-scale feature sizes, as required for photonic device designs. The process of SPL + TMAH etching is a promising approach to rapid prototyping of functional nano-pholonic devices.

Citation

Journal of Applied Physics

Volume

91 No. 1044

Pub Type

Journals

Keywords

anisotropic etching, nanostructures, optoelectronics, scanning probe microscopy

Citation

Chien, F. , Hsieh, W. , Gwo, S. , Vladar, A. and Dagata, J. (2002), Silicon Nanostructures Fabricated by Scanning Probe Lithography and TMAH Etching, Journal of Applied Physics (Accessed October 11, 2025)