Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Fabrication of Silicon Nanowire Forests for Thermoelectric Applications by Metal-Assisted Chemical Etching

  • Published:
Journal of Materials Engineering and Performance Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Silicon nanowires, whose thermal conductivity is strongly reduced with respect to that of the bulk silicon, are very promising for high-efficient thermoelectric conversion. This work focuses on the development of a technique for the fabrication of thermoelectric generators which are based on vertical silicon nanowire forests, achieved through a metal-assisted chemical etch. As heavily doped nanowires are essential in thermoelectric applications, this chemical process has been applied both on lightly and on highly doped (> 1019 cm−3) silicon substrates. A comparison of the results shows that the etch behaves in a completely distinct way when applied to the differently doped substrates. The results of this comparison and a preliminary insight into the diverse behavior occurred are reported. The different initial nucleation of silver, which determines the hole injection, essential to the etching of silicon, seems to be the key point of this different behavior.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. F. Rossella, G. Pennelli, and S. Roddaro, Measurement of the Thermoelectric Properties of Individual Nanostructrures, Semicond. Semimetals, 2018, 98, p 409–444

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. D. Li, Y. Wu, P. Kim, L. Shi, P. Yang, and A. Majumdar, Thermal Conductivity of Individual Silicon Nanowires, Appl. Phys. Lett., 2003, 83(14), p 2934–2936

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. J. Lim, K. Hippalgaonkar, S. Andrews, C.A. Majumdar, and P. Yang, Quantifying Surface Roughness Effects on Phonon Transport in Silicon Nanowires, Nano Lett., 2012, 12(5), p 2475–2482

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. J. Feser, J. Sadhu, B. Azeredo, H. Hsu, J. Ma, J. Kim, M. Seong, N. Fang, X. Li, P. Ferreira, S. Sinha, and D. Cahill, Thermal Conductivity of Silicon Nanowire Arrays with Controlled Roughness, J. Appl. Phys., 2012, 112, p 114306

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. G. Pennelli, A. Nannini, and M. Macucci, Indirect Measurement of Thermal Conductivity in Silicon Nanowires, J. Appl. Phys., 2014, 115, p 084507

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. G. Pennelli, M. Totaro, M. Piotto, and P. Bruschi, Seebeck Coefficient of Nanowires Interconnected into Large Area Networks, Nano Lett., 2013, 13, p 2592–2597

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. G. Pennelli and M. Macucci, High-Power Thermoelectric Generators Based on Nanostructured Silicon, Semicond. Sci. Technol., 2016, 31, p 054001

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Z. Huang, N. Geyer, P. Werner, J. De Boor, and U. Gosele, Metal-Assisted Chemical Etching of Silicon: A Review, Adv. Mater., 2011, 23(2), p 285–308

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. M. Li, Y. Li, W. Liu, L. Yue, R. Li, Y. Luo, M. Trevor, B. Jiang, F. Bai, P. Fu, Y. Zhao, C. Shen, and J.M. Mbengue, Metal-Assisted Chemical Etching for Designable Monocrystalline Silicon Nanostructure, Mater. Res. Bull., 2016, 76, p 436–449

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. M. Bollani, J. Osmond, G. Nicotra, C. Spinella, and D. Narducci, Strain-Induced Generation of Silicon Nanopillars, Nanotechnology, 2013, 24, p 335302

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. E. Dimaggio and G. Pennelli, Reliable Fabrication of Metal Contacts on Silicon Nanowire Forests, Nano Lett., 2016, 7, p 4348–4354

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Z.R. Smith, R.L. Smith, and S.D. Collins, Mechanism of Nanowire Formation in Metal Assisted Chemical Etching, Electrochim. Acta, 2013, 92, p 139–147

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. K. Peng, Y. Yan, S. Gao, and J. Zhu, Dendrite-Assisted Growth of Silicon Nanowires in Electroless Metal Deposition, Adv. Funct. Mater., 2003, 13, p 127–132

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. C. Chartier, S. Bastide, and C. Lévy-Clément, Metal-Assisted Chemical Etching of Silicon in HF–H2O2, Electrochim. Acta, 2008, 53, p 5509–5516

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. K.W. Kolasinski, The Mechanism of Galvanic/Metal-Assisted Etching of Silicon, Nanoscale Res. Lett., 2014, 9, p 432

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. J. Kim, H. Han, Y.H. Kim, S.-H. Choi, J.-C. Kim, and W. Lee, Au/Ag Bilayered Metal Mesh as a Si Etching Catalyst for Controlled Fabrication of Si Nanowires, ACS Nano, 2011, 5, p 3222–3229

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. L. Li, Y. Liu, X. Zhao, Z. Lin, and C.-P. Wong, Uniform Vertical Trench Etching on Silicon with High Aspect Ratio by Metal-Assisted Chemical Etching Using Nanoporous Catalysts, ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 2014, 6, p 575–584

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. K. Tsujino and M. Matsumura, Morphology of Nanoholes Formed in Silicon by Wet Etching in Solutions Containing HF and H2O2 at Different Concentrations Using Silver Nanoparticles as Catalysts, Electrochimica Acta, 2007, 53, p 28–34

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. M.-L. Zhang, K.-Q. Peng, X. Fan, J.-S. Jie, R.-Q. Zhang, S.-T. Lee, and N.-B. Wong, Preparation of Large-Area Uniform Silicon Nanowires Arrays Through Metal-Assisted Chemical Etching, J. Phys. Chem. C, 2008, 112, p 4444–4450

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Y. Qi, Z. Wang, M. Zhang, F. Yang, and X. Wang, A Processing Window for Fabricating Heavily Doped Silicon Nanowires by Metal-Assisted Chemical Etching, J. Phys. Chem. C, 2013, 117, p 25090–25096

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. K. Peng, H. Fang, J. Hu, Y. Wu, J. Zhu, Y. Yan, and S.T. Lee, Metal-Particle-Induced, Highly Localized Site-Specific Etching of Si and Formation of Single-Crystalline Si Nanowires in Aqueous Fluoride Solution, Chem. Eur. J., 2006, 12, p 7942–7947

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. S.J. Rezvani, R. Gunnella, D. Neilson, L. Boarino, L. Croin, G. Aprile, M. Fretto, P. Rizzi, D. Antonioli, and N. Pinto, Effect of Carrier Tunneling on the Structure of Si Nanowires Fabricated by Metal Assisted Etching, Nanotechnology, 2016, 27, p 345301

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. X. Li, Y. Xiao, C. Yan, K. Zhou, S.L. Schweizer, A. Sprafke, J.-H. Lee, and R.B. Wehrspohn, Influence of the Mobility of Pt Nanoparticles on the Anisotropic Etching Properties of Silicon, ECS Solid State Lett., 2013, 2, p 22–24

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell’Informazione, Universita’ di Pisa, Via G. Caruso 16, 56122, Pisa, Italy

    Elisabetta Dimaggio & Giovanni Pennelli

  2. Dipartimento di Scienza dei Materiali, Universita’ di Milano, Bicocca Via R. Cozzi 55, 20125, Milan, Italy

    Dario Narducci

Authors
  1. Elisabetta Dimaggio
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Dario Narducci
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Giovanni Pennelli
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Giovanni Pennelli.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Dimaggio, E., Narducci, D. & Pennelli, G. Fabrication of Silicon Nanowire Forests for Thermoelectric Applications by Metal-Assisted Chemical Etching. J. of Materi Eng and Perform 27, 6279–6285 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-018-3605-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-018-3605-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation