Acta Phys. -Chim. Sin. ›› 2016, Vol. 32 ›› Issue (4): 1019-1028.doi: 10.3866/PKU.WHXB201602183

• ARTICLE • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Insight into Macroscopic Metal-Assisted Chemical Etching for Silicon Nanowires

Lin LIU1,2,*(),Zhi-Sheng LI1,Hui-Dong HU1,Wei-Li SONG3   

  1. 1 State Key Laboratory of Alternate Electrical Power System with Renewable Energy Sources, School of Renewable Energy, North China Electric Power University, Beijing 102206, P. R. China
    2 Beijing Key Laboratory of Energy Conversion and Storage Materials, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, P. R. China
    3 Institute of Advanced Materials and Technology, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, P. R. China
  • Received:2015-12-30 Published:2016-04-07
  • Contact: Lin LIU E-mail:liulin2014@ncepu.edu.cn
  • Supported by:
    the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation(2014M560934);Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, China(2015QN16)

Abstract:

To understand the principles of the fabrication of nanowire arrays using macroscopic metal-assisted chemical etching (MACE), Si nanowires (SiNWs) are synthesized using Ag-coated Si substrates and Pt electrodes by the macroscopic MACE. Analysis of the SiNWmorphology coupled with the corresponding current density in the MACE process is applied to systematically investigate the effects of the electrical connection, Ag coating, etching conditions, Si substrates, and light irradiation on the formation of SiNWs. It is found that there is a certain relationship between the current density and the SiNWlength. Amode is proposed to fundamentally understand the mechanisms of the preparation of SiNWs using MACE. Associated opportunities are also discussed.

Key words: Semiconductor, Microstructure, Electrochemistry, Silicon nanowire, Metal etching