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All-dielectric nano-structures have recently gained much attention in meta-material related research. Experimental observations of Mie-scattering resonances in high-refractive-index dielectric nanoparticles led to a rapid advancement of this research field. Due to its high-refractive-index and significant technological involvements, silicon in particular has emerged as a prevailing material. Here, we demonstrate an all-silicon subwavelength structural coloration technique harnessing the resonant interaction between white light and individual silicon nano-object. Furthermore, square matrices with a resolution of more than 50,000 dpi were achieved using a 500 × 500 nm 2 color pixel. The 500 nm period was to avoid significant coupling between adjacent silicon nano-objects, thus allowing us to investigate the scattering colors of individual all-silicon nano-resonators.

Silicon solar cell texturing is the process of reducing the light reflection of the solar cells by changing their surface structure. Given that multi-crystalline silicon (mc-Si) wafers have grains with different orientations, their texturing process is more difficult to realize compared with those of monocrystalline silicon (mono-Si) wafers. There are two types of texturing processes: wet and dry texturing. Acidic solution-based wet-textured mc-Si samples have higher reflectance values than mono-Si wafers. However, the reactive ion etching (RIE)-texturing of mc-Si wafers has the advantage of decreasing reflectance to values below 10%. Despite this decrease in reflectance, RIE byproducts and plasma-induced damage bring about recombination that results in a decrease the passivation properties of the solar cell. In this study, the RIE byproducts as well as the plasma-induced damage of the RIE-textured mc-Si wafers were analyzed using SEM, STEM, and EDS analysis, while quasi-steady-state photoconductance (QSSPC) was used to confirm the optical characteristics of the RIE-textured mc-Si wafers. Additionally, HF treatment resulted in byproduct removal, and a relatively high implied Voc (673 mV) was confirmed within 3 min of HF treatment. The defect removal etching (DRE) process using KOH was applied to remove the lattice defect layer, and after 40 s of the DRE treatment, the implied Voc increased to ~ 680 mV. Thus, the RIE-textured mc-Si solar cell showed a power conversion efficiency of 19.6%, which was ~ 0.6% higher than that of acid-textured mc-Si solar cells based on the increase in short-circuit current (Isc).

We have proposed a novel quad-interface magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) technology which brings forth an increase of both thermal stability factor $\Delta $ and switching efficiency defined as the ratio of $\Delta $ to intrinsic critical current ${I}_{\text {C0}}$ ( $\Delta /{I}_{\text {C0}}$ ) by a factor of 1.5–2 compared with the conventional double-interface MTJ technology. The free layer of the developed quad interface consists of bottom-MgO/FL1/middle-MgO/FL2/top-MgO stack structure. We successfully fabricated the quad-interface MTJ using a 300-mm process based on a novel low-damage integration process including physical vapor deposition (PVD), reactive ion etching (RIE), and so on. By developing the quad-interface MTJ, we have achieved about two times larger $\Delta $ and $\Delta /{I}_{\text {C0}}$ at the same time. Moreover, we have achieved about two times larger tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) ratio at the same resistance area (RA) product by developing the FL1, bottom-MgO, and middle-MgO. The developed quad-interface MTJ technology considered as post-double-interface MTJ technology will become an essential technology for the scaling of the spin-transfer-torque magnetoresistive random access memory (STT-MRAM) beyond 20 nm.

A lithography-free, self-assembly fabrication route exploiting black silicon (B-Si) microstructures to design a perfect absorber based on densely and disordered packed gold nanoparticles (AuNPs)-modified silicon forests have been proposed in this paper. The geometrical dimensions of microstructures were controlled by altering the flow rate of SF6/O2 in the reactive ion etching (RIE) chamber. The RIE B-Si shows a unique geometry that consists of a combination of sharp “needles” at the top and rounded “holes” at the bottom, and also shows an excellent adaptive relationship with Au deposition. By combining the light-trapping capability of the B-Si and the plasmonic nature of AuNPs in the near-infrared (NIR) range, an experimental absorption of 96.5% is achieved in a wide range from 350 to 2500 nm. This material has the potential for photonic applications, including solar energy harvesting or NIR-sensitive optoelectronic devices.

This paper reports the development of fiber optical hydrogen sensors using palladium and gold alloy nanostructures as sensor materials for hydrogen measurements using a D-shaped fiber as a platform. Using a maskless reactive ion etching technique, silica nanocone structures were formed on the surface of the D-shaped fiber. Palladium and gold alloys were deposited on the surface of nanostructured D-shaped fiber to form a nano-alloy sensor film. Evanescent interaction between guided light propagated in the fiber core and nano-alloy enabled highly sensitive hydrogen detection from concentrations that ranged from 0.25% to 10% in atmosphere pressure. The formation of nanostructured alloy enabled by the nanocone surface led to more than 3 times faster in sensor response time and significant improvements in sensor sensitivity and reversibility. The work presented here demonstrates that highly controllable VLSI microfabrication schemes can be applied to produce nanostructured sensor films on optical fibers for high-sensitivity chemical sensing.

A non-thermal method for removal of surface damage created by dry etching has previously been documented or n-GaN, but no such effort has been reported for p-GaN. In this study, Ga-polar p-GaN films were subjected to inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching, creating damage near the surface and causing an inversion of the carrier type and concentration from + 5.5 × 1012 cm−2 to − 8.8 × 1010 cm−2, as measured by Hall effect. An application of the carrier-type-selective photoelectrochemical (PEC) etching technique using a KOH and K2S2O8 etch chemistry is employed in order to remove etch-face damage and recover the underlying p-GaN. We show the type selectivity of the PEC etching technique, demonstrating electroless etching of n-GaN while no interaction of the same etch chemistry with p-GaN is observed. Further, surface analysis shows that the PEC etch removes a surface layer from dry-etched p-GaN and increases its roughness substantially, from 0.64 nm to 71 nm RMS.

A newly developed nanopatterned broadband antireflective (AR) coating was fabricated on the front side of a glass/indium tin oxide/perovskite solar cell (PSC) by depositing a single interference layer onto a two-dimensional (2D)-patterned moth-eye-like nanostructure. The optimized developed AR nanostructure was simulated in a finite-difference time domain analysis. To realize the simulated developed AR nanostructure, we controlled the SiO2 moth-eye structure with various diameters and heights and a MgF2 single layer with varying thicknesses by sequentially performing nanosphere lithography, reactive ion etching, and electron-beam evaporation. Optimization of the developed AR nanostructure, which has a 100 nm-thick MgF2 film coated onto the SiO2 moth-eye-like nanostructure (diameter 165 nm and height 400 nm), minimizes the reflection loss throughout the visible range. As a result, the short-circuit current density (JSC) of the newly AR-coated PSC increases by 11.80%, while the open-circuit voltage (VOC) remains nearly constant. Therefore, the power conversion efficiency of the newly developed AR-decorated PSC increases by 12.50%, from 18.21% for a control sample to 20.48% for the optimum AR-coated sample. These results indicate that the newly developed MgF2/SiO2 AR nanostructure can provide an advanced platform technology that reduces the Fresnel loss and therefore increases the possibility of the commercialization of glass-based PSCs.

In this paper, we study the technological process of separating a heteroplate from a polycrystalline diamond film (PDF-Si), separating a whole plate from sacrificial silicon. The hole formation in a diamond substrate from PDF via laser milling and plasma-chemical etching is studied. Plasma-chemical etching provided batch hole fabrication based on planar technology and precision lithography. The technological modes of hole etching through an aluminum mask via reactive ion etching with an inductively coupled plasma source (RIE-ICP) were optimized. The hole etching rate in the PDF was ~ 1.1 μm/min. A mathematical model of the technological process is developed. Etching is shown to occur mainly in oxygen. The technological process is adapted for the plasma-chemical etching setup “Plasma TM5”. The possibility of etching in a PDF holes 100 μm in diameter and more than 300 μm deep was studied. The etching rate was shown to depend on the hole depth and is nonlinear in nature, with etching of the hole walls and the aluminum mask.

Gold nanostructure arrays were fabricated by combining colloidal lithography with inclined reactive ion etching and inclinded sputtering. Field emission scanning electron microscopy studies of this substrate show uniaxial hexagonally ordered graded nanostructure arrays with increasing interstice at different positions. Optical spectroscopy studies in visible range reveal that these structures support localized surface plasmon resonance, surface plasmon polaritons, and hybridized modes. Optical spectra were found at each position along the direction of increasing interstice size, and the resonances tend to redshift with position. Different morphologies lead to 50 nm spectral tunability across 10 mm length of the substrate. Based on spectral resolution, optimum peak arising due to localized surface plasmon resonance in reflectance was selected for refractive index sensing application. The sensitivity and figure of merit were evaluated at each position. The sensitivity was found to increase accompanied by decrease in figure of merit with position. The highest sensitivity of 621.6 nm/RIU is obtained for the structure in which interstice size is maximum.

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs), which have surprisingly emerged in recent years, are now aiming at commercialization. Rapid, low-temperature, and continuous fabrication processes that can produce high-efficiency PSCs with a reduced fabrication cost and shortened energy payback time are important challenges on the way to commercialization. Herein, we report a reactive ion etching (RIE) method, which is an ultrafast room-temperature technique, to fabricate mesoporous TiO2 (mp-TiO2) as an electron transport layer for high-efficiency PSCs. Replacing the conventional high-temperature annealing process by RIE reduces the total processing time for fabricating 20 PSCs by 40%. Additionally, the RIE-processed mp-TiO2 exhibits enhanced electron extraction, whereupon the optimized RIE-mp-TiO2-based PSC exhibits a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 19.60% without J-V hysteresis, when the devices were optimized with a TiCl4 surface treatment process. Finally, a flexible PSC employing RIE-mp-TiO2 is demonstrated with 17.29% PCE. Considering that the RIE process has been actively used in the semiconductor industry, including for the fabrication of silicon photovoltaic modules, the process developed in this work could be easily applied toward faster, simpler, and cheaper manufacturing of PSC modules.

Methods of micro-profiling of 4H-SiC are described: formation of mesa structures with inclined walls (off-vertical wall inclination angle exceeding 45°) by reactive ion etching; etching of mesa structures with a flat bottom and inclined walls (off-vertical wall inclination angle being smaller than 45°) by ion-beam and reactive ion plasma etching. The application of etching methods in the fabrication technology of 4H-SiC-based mesa-epitaxial field-effect transistors with a Schottky gate is demonstrated.

The highly ordered perpendicularly aligned cylindrical and lamellar microdomains within block copolymer (BCP) films have important applications in diverse fields. However, the fast normal orientation of self-assembled nanostructures on arbitrary substrates without tedious pre- and postprocessing has been a challenging issue in manufacturing miniaturized devices. Here, we outline the potential for extending the hierarchical self-assembly within azobenzene-containing PS-b-PMA(Az) films to inherently assist in the formation of normally aligned domains using a rapid thermal annealing process (140 °C for 5 min). Liquid crystalline (LC) mesogens in PS-b-PMA(Az) films self-assemble to form a parallelly aligned sematic phase after thermal annealing, as confirmed by grazing-incidence small-angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS), wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) and ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) spectra. This sub-phase contributes to broadening of the PS-cylinder-phase window (0.083 ≤ fPS < 0.49) and ∼12 nm PS cylinder structures. Perpendicular cylinders or lamellae are observed on various substrates, such as silicon wafers, flexible polyethylene terephthalate (PET) sheets and conductive aluminum foils. Additionally, the good reactive ion etching (RIE) rate difference between the two blocks makes these BCPs more attractive for advancing the field of BCP lithographic applications for fabricating flexible microelectronic devices.

We report on the fabrication and modification of a top-down nanofabrication platform for enormous parallel silicon nanowire-based devices. We explain the nanowire formation in detail, using an additive hybrid lithography step, optimising a reactive ion etching recipe for obtaining smooth and vertical nanowires under a hybrid mask, and embedding the nanowire in a dielectric membrane. The nanowires are used as a sacrificial template, removal of the nanowires forms arrays of well-defined nano-pores with a high surface density. This platform is expected to find applications in many different physical domains, including nanofluidics, (3D) nanoelectronics, as well as nanophotonics. We demonstrate the employment of the platform as field emitter arrays, as well as a state-of-the-art electro-osmotic pump.

The work aims to optimise the geometry of the inductor of a reactive-ion etching reactor using the COMSOL Multiphysics package, including the calculation of the electron temperature, density, and electric potential of a plasma. A “fine” finite element mesh was used with a minimum finite element size (8.6·10−5) m in the simulation. It was shown that to obtain a high density plasma with a high electric potential and electron temperature, it is necessary to use an inductor with fewer turns.

Texturing of diamond wire cut wafers using a standard wafer etch process chemistry has always been a challenge in solar cell manufacturing industry. This is due to the change in surface morphology of diamond wire cut wafers and the abundant presence of amorphous silicon content, which are introduced from wafer manufacturing industry during sawing of multi-crystalline wafers using ultra-thin diamond wires. The industry standard texturing process for multi-crystalline wafers cannot deliver a homogeneous etched silicon surface, thereby requiring an additive compound, which acts like a surfactant in the acidic etch bath to enhance the texturing quality on diamond wire cut wafers. Black silicon wafers on the other hand require completely a different process chemistry and are normally textured using a metal catalyst assisted etching technique or by plasma reactive ion etching technique. In this paper, various challenges associated with cell processing steps using diamond wire cut and black silicon wafers along with cell electrical results using each of these wafer types are discussed.

Etch characteristics of ovonic threshold switch (OTS) materials composed of Ge–As–Te for a phase-change random access memory (PCRAM) has been investigated using reactive ion etching via hydrogen-based gases such as H2, CH4, NH3, CH4 + H2, and CH4 + NH3. Among the investigated hydrogen-based gases, NH3 showed the highest etching rate of about 0.52 nm s−1, but the formation of nitride compounds and the increased roughness were observed on the OTS surface by nitrogen. The use of other hydrogen-based gases such as CH4 and CH4 + H2 showed the deposition and low OTS etch rate, respectively, due to the presence of carbon in CH4. Even though H2 showed the better etch characteristics due to the no surface residues or compounds on the OTS surface related to carbon or nitrogen in the etch gases, the best OTS etch characteristics such as the second highest etch rate of 0.45 nm s−1, the lowest surface roughness of 0.21 nm, and no surface residues or compounds were observed with CH4 + NH3 due to the removal of carbon and nitrogen on the surface by the formation of volatile CN compounds while maintaining a high hydrogen atomic concentration in the plasma.

Dielectric chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) was implemented in semiconductor fabrication as a simple alternative planarization process for the interlevel dielectrics surface instead of the reactive ion etching process of the 1980s. Since then, there have been a growing number of applications of the dielectric CMP process in advanced semiconductor fabrication because of multiple “new” integration schemes (such as replacement metal gate (RMG), or self-aligned contact), which require advanced planarization technology. It is important to understand its history, material removal mechanism, defect formation, and present and future applications to comprehend why dielectric CMP has to be used, how the material is removed, and how the defect is created. By understanding what has been studied on the current dielectric CMP process, future applications of dielectric CMP can be further improved for better process performance and, therefore, for better device performance and yield.

We recently demonstrated an ultra-thin solar cell with increased radiation tolerance as compared to a traditionally thick absorber counterpart. However, as the active region of the device was reduced so was the absorption with respect to state of the art devices. Therefore, we discuss a light trapping design, which implements nanosphere natural photolithography to fabricate a micropillared diffraction grating, combined with a transparent spacer layer and a distributed Bragg reflector. We discuss the fabrication process and illustrate the effectiveness of integrating light trapping structures for enhanced optical confinement within an ultra-thin solar cell design.

A CoNiCrAlTaHfY/Co composite coating was prepared on the etched C/C composites by using duplex vapor phase surface alloying treatments, i.e., Co alloying and Co–Ni–Cr–Al–Ta–Hf–Y alloying. Microstructures and oxidation behavior of the coated C/C composites were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction. The result showed that the CoNiCrAlTaHfY/Co composite coating, 25 µm in thickness, was compact and composed of CrCoTa, AlCo2Ta, AlxCry, AlxNiy, and Co. The coating adhesion can be enhanced by microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition etching of matrix surface and adding a Co intermediate layer between the CoNiCrAlTaHfY top layer and C/C composites substrate. The honeycomb structure after etching was helpful to alloying element absorb and diffuse into substrate surface, and the composite coating continuation was improved by the Co buffer layer. After exposing in air for 180 min at 1000 °C, the bulk C/C composites volatilized while the loss rate of coated C/C composites was 0.82%, showing an improved oxidation resistance. Mixed oxides mainly containing Al2O3 and Cr2O3 were formed in the composite coating surface and protected the C/C composites from oxidation in air.

The comparative analysis of both CF4+O2+Ar and CHF3+O2+Ar plasma systems under the typical conditions of reactive ion etching of silicon and silicon-based compounds was carried out. The data on internal plasma parameters, plasma chemistry as well as the steady-state plasma composition were obtained using a description of Langmuir probe diagnostics and 0-dimensional (global) plasma modeling. As a presented in the literature, both experimental and modeling procedures were carried out at constant total gas pressure, input power, bias power. The obtained results allowed one 1) to figure out the influence of oxygen on steady-state densities of plasma active species through the kinetics of both electron-impact and atom-molecular reactions; 2) to understand the features of fluorine atoms and fluorocarbon radicals kinetics which determine chemical activity and polymerization ability of plasmas in respect to treated surfaces; 3) to perform the model-bases analysis of heterogeneous process kinetics (etching, polymerization, polymer destruction) which determine the overall etching regime and output parameters. It was found that the substitution of argon for oxygen in both gas mixtures 1) results in monotonic increase in fluorine atom density; 2) is accompanied by decreasing polymerization ability of a gas phase and 3) causes the rapid (by about two orders of magnitude at ~ 20% О2) decrease in fluorocarbon polymer film thickness with the higher values for CHF3+O2+Ar system.

Damage of the gate oxide induced by plasma processing, due to charge buildup on conductors in ohmic contact with the oxide, was studied by special test structures consisting of a small test capacitor connected to large charge collecting antennas on conducting layers. Effects of various plasma processing steps in a model complementary metal oxide semiconductor process on the gate oxide quality, as revealed by the charge to breakdown (Q bd ) measurements, after successive processing steps are reported. The most pronounced degradation of the oxide quality occurred at the metal-1 etch: ΔQ bd =-1.9 C/cm 2 or 360 pC/μm of exposed edge. About 220 pC/μm of the cumulative value is due to the metal-1 etching and 140 pC/μm is due to the partial photoresist ashing

One of the major problems with the bone implant surfaces after surgery is the competition of host and bacterial cells to adhere to the implant surfaces. To keep the implants safe against implant-associated infections, the implant surface may be decorated with bactericidal nanostructures. Therefore, fabrication of nanostructures on biomaterials is of growing interest. Here, we systematically studied the effects of different processing parameters of inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching (ICP RIE) on the Ti nanostructures. The resultant Ti surfaces were characterized by using scanning electron microscopy and contact angle measurements. The specimens etched using different chamber pressures were chosen for measurement of the mechanical properties using nanoindentation. The etched surfaces revealed various morphologies, from flat porous structures to relatively rough surfaces consisting of nanopillars with diameters between 26.4 ± 7.0 nm and 76.0 ± 24.4 nm and lengths between 0.5 ± 0.1 μm and 5.2 ± 0.3 μm. The wettability of the surfaces widely varied in the entire range of hydrophilicity. The structures obtained at higher chamber pressure showed enhanced mechanical properties. The bactericidal behavior of selected surfaces was assessed against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli bacteria while their cytocompatibility was evaluated with murine preosteoblasts. The findings indicated the potential of such ICP RIE Ti structures to incorporate both bactericidal and osteogenic activity, and pointed out that optimization of the process conditions is essential to maximize these biofunctionalities.

To demonstrate the relation between the microstructure of ceramics and their plasma corrosion behavior, sintered yttria (Y2O3) ceramics with various grain sizes and porosities were fabricated under various sintering conditions, and the effect of the microstructures of the Y2O3 ceramics on their plasma corrosion behavior was investigated. The Y2O3 samples were investigated by inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching using fluorine plasma. After plasma exposure, the plasma corrosion depth and surface roughness (Sa) values of the materials were measured using a laser scanning microscope. The surface microstructures after plasma corrosion were observed by scanning electron microscopy. It was found that the plasma depth showed an almost linear change with plasma exposure time, and all the original surfaces of the samples were corroded by over 0.7 μm during plasma exposure for 60 min. The Sa values of the Y2O3 samples as a result of plasma exposure were significantly different in that although the Sa values of low-density Y2O3 samples increased with an increase in the plasma exposure time, the values of their high-density counterparts did not change and the initial surface roughness was maintained. The fluorine plasma was found to homogeneously corrode the surfaces of the sintered Y2O3 ceramics, regardless of their grain boundaries or grain sizes. However, when internal pores were present in the samples, these internal pores were selectively corroded from their edges, becoming crater-like plasma corrosion marks. Overall, a high-density Y2O3 ceramic was found, which retained its initial surface roughness regardless of plasma exposure time, with an ideal microstructure for use as a plasma-resistant ceramic material that can be used as the inner ceramic components in the plasma etching equipment.

Dry etching is a prevalent technique for pattern transfer and material removal in microelectronics, optics and photonics due to its high precision material removal with low surface and subsurface damage. These processes, including reactive ion etching (RIE) and plasma etching (PE), are performed at vacuum conditions and provide high selectivity and vertical side wall etched patterns but create high costs and efforts in maintenance due to the required machinery. In contrast to electrically generated plasmas, laser-induced micro plasmas are controllable sources of reactive species in gases at atmospheric pressure that can be used for dry etching of materials. In the present study, we have demonstrated the laser-induced plasma etching of monocrystalline silicon. A Ti:Sapphire laser has been used for igniting an optically pumped plasma in a CF4/O2 gas mixture near atmospheric pressure. The influence of process parameters, like substrate temperature, O2 concentration, plasma-surface distance, etching duration, pulse energy and crystal orientation on etching rate and surface morphology has been investigated. Typical etching rates of 2–12 µm x min−1 can be achieved by varying mentioned parameters with a decreasing etching rate during the process. Different morphologies can be observed due to the parameters set, smooth as well as rough surfaces or even inverted pyramids. The presented etching method provides an approach for precise machining of silicon surfaces with good surface qualities near atmospheric pressure and sufficiently high material removal rates for ultraprecise surface machining.

In this study, we fabricated embedded titanium dioxide ( T i O 2 ) nanograting structures with slanted cross section on a silicon dioxide ( S i O 2 ) substrate using electron beam lithography (EBL) and reactive ion etching (RIE) methods, and we analyzed their optical signals. The surface morphologies of the embedded T i O 2 nanograting structures were monitored by a scanning optical microscope (SEM). By focusing the transverse electric (TE) polarized beam with the wavelength λ = 633 n m at the incident angle θ = 22.0 ∘ from the rear side of T i O 2 face, we could observe + 1 st and − 2 nd diffraction orders with diffraction efficiencies ( I / I t o t a l ): I 1 = 23 % and I 2 = 19 % , respectively, on a S i O 2 / T i O 2 interface. Diffraction beams were waveguided to both left and right directions in a S i O 2 substrate via total internal reflection (TIR); next, two guided beams were emitted from the side edges of the substrate. This work is expected to develop a highly efficient two-way waveguide optical interconnector.

Due to its high theoretical specific capacity, a silicon anode is one of the candidates for realizing high energy density lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). However, problems related to bulk silicon (e.g., low intrinsic conductivity and massive volume expansion) limit the performance of silicon anodes. In this work, to improve the performance of silicon anodes, a vertically aligned n-type silicon nanowire array (n-SiNW) was fabricated using a well-controlled, top-down nano-machining technique by combining photolithography and inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching (ICP-RIE) at a cryogenic temperature. The array of nanowires ~1 µm in diameter and with the aspect ratio of ~10 was successfully prepared from commercial n-type silicon wafer. The half-cell LIB with free-standing n-SiNW electrode exhibited an initial Coulombic efficiency of 91.1%, which was higher than the battery with a blank n-silicon wafer electrode (i.e., 67.5%). Upon 100 cycles of stability testing at 0.06 mA cm−2, the battery with the n-SiNW electrode retained 85.9% of its 0.50 mAh cm−2 capacity after the pre-lithiation step, whereas its counterpart, the blank n-silicon wafer electrode, only maintained 61.4% of 0.21 mAh cm−2 capacity. Furthermore, 76.7% capacity retention can be obtained at a current density of 0.2 mA cm−2, showing the potential of n-SiNW anodes for high current density applications. This work presents an alternative method for facile, high precision, and high throughput patterning on a wafer-scale to obtain a high aspect ratio n-SiNW, and its application in LIBs.

Silicon carbide (SiC) nanostructure is a type of promising field emitter due to high breakdown field strength, high thermal conductivity, low electron affinity, and high electron mobility. However, the fabrication of the SiC nanotips array is difficult due to its chemical inertness. Here we report a simple, industry-familiar reactive ion etching to fabricate well-aligned, vertically orientated SiC nanoarrays on 4H-SiC wafers. The as-synthesized nanoarrays had tapered base angles &gt, 60°, and were vertically oriented with a high packing density &gt, 107 mm−2 and high-aspect ratios of approximately 35. As a result of its high geometry uniformity—5% length variation and 10% diameter variation, the field emitter array showed typical turn-on fields of 4.3 V μm−1 and a high field-enhancement factor of ~1260. The 8 h current emission stability displayed a mean current fluctuation of 1.9 ± 1%, revealing excellent current emission stability. The as-synthesized emitters demonstrate competitive emission performance that highlights their potential in a variety of vacuum electronics applications. This study provides a new route to realizing scalable field electron emitter production.

The negatively charged germanium-vacancy GeV− color centers in diamond nanocrystals are solid-state photon emitters suited for quantum information technologies, bio-sensing, and labeling applications. Due to the small Huang–Rhys factor, the GeV−-center zero-phonon line emission is expected to be very intensive and spectrally narrow. However, structural defects and the inhomogeneous distribution of local strains in the nanodiamonds result in the essential broadening of the ZPL. Therefore, clarification and elimination of the reasons for the broadening of the GeV− center ZPL is an important problem. We report on the effect of reactive ion etching in oxygen plasma on the structure and luminescence properties of nanodiamonds grown by hot filament chemical vapor deposition. Emission of GeV− color centers ensembles at about 602 nm in as-grown and etched nanodiamonds is probed using micro-photoluminescence and micro-Raman spectroscopy at room and liquid nitrogen temperature. We show that the etching removes the nanodiamond surface sp2-induced defects resulting in a reduction in the broad luminescence background and a narrowing of the diamond Raman band. The zero-phonon luminescence band of the ensemble of the GeV− centers is a superposition of narrow lines originated most likely from the GeV− center sub-ensembles under different uniaxial local strain conditions.

We investigate contamination induced in grating-like structures during the etching process as a possible precursor to laser-induced damage. Our experimental model utilizes 5-mm line structures fabricated in E-beam–deposited coatings of silica using reactive ion etching (RIE) and reactive ion beam etching (RIBE). This makes it possible to compare the behavior in the pillars and trench regions. The results suggest that surface contaminants are primarily fluorinated polymers, while embedded contaminants consist primarily of carbon with very low detection of fluorine. Samples fabricated by the RIBE method exhibit significantly reduced roughness in the trenches, yet still present similar embedded contamination.

Micro- A nd nanoscale surface wrinkling has been widely studied in artificial systems, mostly in soft substrates like polydimethylsiloxane or polystyrene, where the wrinkling dynamics are triggered by thermal stresses or tensile prestrains. Here, we introduce a new wrinkling regime based on photoresist layers on top of a rigid substrate. By introducing a bending deformation, combined with fluorine-based plasma treatment, wrinkles with a characteristic wavelength less than 1 μm can be created. By adding micropatterns on photoresists with standard UV exposure, ordered wrinkles can also be realized. This technique is demonstrated to be applicable in several commercially available photoresists, and the wrinkled patterns can be employed conveniently to create high-aspect-ratio silicon gratings and large-area silicon dioxide membranes. This unique strategy broadens the spectrum of available materials to create wrinkled surfaces in a controllable manner and provides a platform for the easier fabrication of wrinkle-based devices.

Production of high-aspect-ratio silicon (Si) nanowire-based anode for lithium ion batteries is challenging particularly in terms of controlling wire property and geometry to improve the battery performance. This report demonstrates tunable optimization of inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching (ICP-RIE) at cryogenic temperature to fabricate vertically-aligned silicon nanowire array anodes with high verticality, controllable morphology, and good homogeneity. Three different materials [i.e., photoresist, chromium (Cr), and silicon dioxide (SiO2)] were employed as masks during the subsequent photolithography and cryogenic ICP-RIE processes to investigate their effects on the resulting nanowire structures. Silicon nanowire arrays with a high aspect ratio of up to 22 can be achieved by tuning several etching parameters [i.e., temperature, oxygen/sulfur hexafluoride (O2/SF6) gas mixture ratio, chamber pressure, plasma density, and ion energy]. Higher compressive stress was revealed for longer Si wires by means of Raman spectroscopy. Moreover, an anisotropy of lattice stress was found at the top and sidewall of Si nanowire, indicating compressive and tensile stresses, respectively. From electrochemical characterization, half-cell battery integrating ICP-RIE-based silicon nanowire anode exhibits a capacity of 0.25 mAh cm−2 with 16.67% capacity fading until 20 cycles, which has to be improved for application in future energy storage devices.

The paper describes methods for manufacturing of diffractive optical elements by means of only "dry" processes starting from direct laser writing on titanium-containing films. According to first approach, direct laser writing onto thin Ti film forms surface oxide mask. Reactive ion etching removes non-oxidized Ti film and develops "latent" oxidized image. Subsequent thermal annealing of the oxidized Ti structure in air makes the mask more stable for following reactive ion etching of fused silica substrate to ensure proper phase depth of the binary diffractive structure. This makes it possible to avoid liquid etching, which reduces the yield and accuracy. The phase structure of the diffractive elements manufactured using the described method consists of the grooves etched in the fused silica substrate between ridges covered by TiO2 between them. We found out also that covering the Ti film by very thin Si layer helps to increase laser energy absorption at direct writing and creates quite resistant masking layer TiSi2 for the reactive ion etching. Preliminary estimates show that dual layer Si/Ti films can be used to create amplitude reflective DOEs. Possible application area for the developed methods is manufacturing of the diffractive optical elements used for precision generation of reference wavefronts in interferometric measurements of spherical and aspherical surfaces.

We present investigations of optical properties of black silicon (b-Si) nanostructures passivated with several high-k metal oxides (Al 2 O 3 , TiO 2 , HfO 2 and Sc 2 O 3 ), obtained by atomic layer deposition (ALD) method. The reflectivity was studied using the finite difference time domain (FDTD) method as well as experimentally, where Si wafers was structured by reactive ion etching method for b-Si fabrication. Modeling and measurements show improvements in the antireflection properties of thin-film/b-Si nanostructures over a wide range of light wavelengths. TiO 2 , HfO 2 and Sc 2 O 3 films provide a good alternative to Al 2 O 3 as passivating materials and antireflection coatings.

This paper focuses on the research and development of a suitable method for creating a selective emitter for the visible and near-infrared region to be able to work optimally together with silicon photovoltaic cells in a thermophotovoltaic system. The aim was to develop a new method to create very fine structures beyond the conventional standard (nanostructures), which will increase the emissivity of the base material for it to match the needs of a selective emitter for the VIS and NIR region. Available methods were used to create the nanostructures, from which we eliminated all unsuitable methods, for the selected method, we established the optimal procedure and parameters for their creation. The development of the emitter nanostructures included the necessary substrate pretreatments, where great emphasis was placed on material purity and surface roughness. Tungsten was purposely chosen as the main material for the formation of the nanostructures, we verified the effect of the formed structure on the resulting emissivity. This work presents a new method for the formation of nanostructures, which are not commonly formed in such fineness, by this, it opens the way to new possibilities for achieving the desired selectivity of the thermophotovoltaic emitter.

Producción Científica, Ridge microstructures were prepared by reactive ion etching (RIE) of a series of stacked InAsxP$_{1-x}$ quantum wells (QWs) with step graded compositions grown on InP by molecular beam epitaxy. These microstructures were characterized by low temperature micro-photoluminescence. The photoluminescence (PL) emission associated with each of the QWs was clearly identified and a model for their line shape was implemented. PL line-scans were measured across etched ridge stripes of various widths in an optical cryostat, with a spatial resolution of 1 µm. The model for the PL spectra allowed accurate extraction of the local PL integrated intensities, spectral positions and line widths. Two different RIE processes, using CH4/H2 and CH4/Cl2, were investigated. The PL line-scans showed strong variations of the integrated PL intensities across the etched stripes. The PL intensities for all QWs increased gradually from the edge to the center of the ridge microstructures, over a length scale of 10–20 µm. On the other hand, the spectral peak position of the PL lines remained constant (within an accuracy of 0.2–0.4 meV, depending on which QW was considered) across the microstructures. These observations are discussed in terms of the mechanical stress induced by the RIE processes, the relaxation of the biaxial built-in compressive stress in the InAsP QWs (induced by the free surfaces at the vertical etched sidewalls), and also by the non-radiative recombination at these sidewalls. Altogether, this study illustrates the contribution that specially designed test structures, coupled with advanced spectroscopic characterization, can provide to the development of semiconductor photonic devices (e.g. lasers or waveguides) involving RIE processing., Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (grants RGPIN-2018-04015 and RGPAS-2018-522624), Junta de Castilla y León (project VA283P18), Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (project RTI2018-101020-B-I00)

Large-area nano-patterned surfaces invoking hydrophobicity hold great significance for Surface Enhanced RamanSpectroscopy or SERS substrates. Conventionally, these structures are fabricated using state-of-the-art litho-graphic techniques. These techniques while being efficient, are complex and are cost-ineffective. Here, we report a low-cost, facile and scalable solution for fabrication of periodic array of metallic nanocones using colloidal lithography and reactive ion etching process. Nanocone array coated with gold thin film serves as a hydrophobicsurface with plasmonic properties. Hydrophobicity on the cones helps to keep the analyte molecule localized near the tip of nanocones where, due to plasmonic behavior of metal thin film i.e. field enhancement by the metal gives rise to significant SERS. We validate this concept through our fabricated substrate via detection ofRhodamine 6G molecules using Raman spectroscopy and report the limit of detection upto 1 nM.

By using a methane and hydrogen process gas mixture in an appropriate hot-filament CVD process without further dopant, high electrical conductivity of over 100 S/cm has been achieved in nanocrystalline diamond films deposited on silicon single-crystalline substrates. Furthermore, it was found that an oxygen reactive-ion etching process (O-RIE) can improve the diamond film surface’s electron affinity, thus reducing the specific contact resistance. The reduction of the specific contact resistance by a factor of up to 16 was realized by the oxygen ion etching process, down to 6×10−6 Ωcm2. We provide a qualitative explanation for the mechanism behind the contact resistance reduction in terms of the electron affinity of the diamond surface. With the aid of XPS, AFM, and surface wetting measurements, we confirmed that a higher surface electron affinity is responsible for the lower specific contact resistance of the oxygen-terminated nanocrystalline diamond films., publishedVersion

In order to analyze the effects of various sizes of pyramid structure on solar cell characteristics, a pyramid structure was formed on the wafer through various etching processes. In this paper, etching was performed using one-step etching processes such as alkaline solution etching, reactive ion etching (RIE), and metal-assisted chemical etching (MACE), and two-step etching processes such as alkaline solution + MACE and alkaline solution + RIE. The micro-sized pyramid-structured wafers formed using the alkali solution showed higher reflectivity than nano-sized pyramid-structured wafers. Accordingly, it was expected that the characteristics of the cells fabricated with a nano-sized pyramid-structured wafer having low reflectivity would be higher than that of a micro-sized pyramid-structured wafer. However, it was confirmed that the quantum efficiency characteristics in the short wavelength region were higher in the micro-sized pyramid-structured wafers than in the nano-sized pyramid-structured wafers. To confirm the reason for this, surface characteristics were analyzed through the deposition of an emitter layer on a wafer formed in a pyramidal structure. As a result, in the case of the nano-sized pyramid-structured wafer, the sheet resistance characteristics were lower due to the increased depth of the emitter layer in comparison to the micro-sized pyramid-structured wafer. Accordingly, it was determined that the quantum efficiency was degraded as a result of the high recombination rate.

The nanopillar growth method of deposition of metal-organic molecules by a sharply focused electron beam is used to form high aspect ratio AFM probe. It is applied to AFM-based digital twin development of two-tier silicon carbide field emission array (FEA), made in SPETU LETI by a two stage reactive ion etching technique in a fluoride atmosphere with high-density emission tips (of the second stage) and vertically oriented surface morphology. In digital twin approach the experimental information describing the detailed surface morphology are represented by a numerical multiscale simulation.

With the advances in nanofabrication technology, horizontally aligned and well-defined nitrogen-doped ultrananocrystalline diamond nanostripes can be fabricated with widths in the order of tens of nanometers. The study of the size-dependent electron transport properties of these nanostructures is crucial to novel electronic and electrochemical applications. In this paper, 100 nm thick n-type ultrananocrystalline diamond thin films were synthesized by microwave plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition method with 5% N2 gas in the plasma during the growth process. Then the nanostripes were fabricated using standard electron beam lithography and reactive ion etching techniques. The electrical transport properties of the free-standing single nanostripes of different widths from 75 to 150 nm and lengths from 1 to 128 μm were investigated. The study showed that the electrical resistivity of the n-type ultrananocrystalline diamond nanostripes increased dramatically with the decrease in the nanostripe width. The nanostripe resistivity was nearly doubted when the width was reduced from 150 nm to 75 nm. The size-dependent variability in conductivity could originate from the imposed diffusive scattering of the nanostripe surfaces which had a further compounding effect to reinforce the grain boundary scattering.