Reduction of isotropic etch for silicon nanowires created by metal assisted deep reactive ion etching

Silicon nanowires were created by deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) using gold nanoparticles as a mask. Gold nanoparticle masks were created by rapid thermal annealing of an evaporated gold thin film. By using different inert gases for the annealing process, many shapes of Au NPs were created including sphere and hemisphere. Parameters such as the gold nanoparticles' shape as well as the DRIE bias voltage were studied to form highly vertical silicon nanowires while ensuring the smallest possible isotropic etch.