Journal ArticleDOI
Effects of HF solution in the electroless deposition process on silicon surfaces
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In this paper, the influence of HF concentration on the initial stages of electroless deposition for various metals (Al, Au, Cu, Sn, and Pd) onto silicon using atomic force microscopy.Abstract:
We have investigated the influence of HF concentration on the initial stages of electroless deposition for various metals (Al, Au, Cu, Sn, and Pd) onto silicon using atomic force microscopy. As the HF concentration in the plating solution increased, the rate of metal deposition correspondingly increased for Au, Cu, and Pd. In the case of Au and Cu, uniformly sized nuclei comprised the first deposited layer. However for Al and Sn, deposition occurred only at sporadic sites on the surface and was independent of HF concentration. For all of the metal ion studied, deposition initiated preferentially at flaws on the surface. The electroless process indicates a direct displacement mechanism which results in the simultaneous dissolution of Si as the metal ion is reduced at the surface. For all the metal ions deposited in this manner, metal adhesion to the Si surface was poor.read more
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DissertationDOI
Analysis and characterization of silicon textured by metal assisted etching technique
Abstract: The efficient reflection suppression of a solar cell over a broad spectral range can be achieved by nano-scale surface textures. The fundamental reason is that the textured surface behaves like an effective medium with graded refractive index, resulting in the optimal case in vanishing reflectivity and appearing black under sunlight [1-3]. The surface morphology is commonly known as “black Silicon” or bSi. Various methods for fabricating bSi have been developed such as reactive ion etching (RIE) [4], metalassisted etching (MAE) [5, 6] and laser texturing [7]. MAE appears to be an interesting method because it is a flexible and potentially simple process for producing bSi. In fact, highly efficient bSi solar cells have been reported recently [8-10]. Nevertheless, the energy conversion efficiency of these cells is still well below the highest achievable efficiencies. The high aspect ratio and surface area of the bSi can result in high rates of surface recombination, and therefore high values of £eff on the resulting structure [11-13]. Nonetheless, no results of a systematic investigation of the correlation between optical performance, surface area increase and Seff in Si have been reported to the best of author’s knowledge. Another reason for the lower-than-optimal performance of the cells is the poor metal contact that contributes to the series resistance of the cell. Potential origins of this detrimental effect have only briefly been investigated through visual inspection [29-33], and measurements of the contact resistivity pc have not been made. In this thesis, an alternative 3-step MAE texturing technique which produces nanoporous silicon (MAE nSi) will be investigated using Silver (Ag) and Palladium (Pd) as catalyst. The thesis consists of two parts, namely experimental investigations and modelling. Both Ag and Pd are used to produce nano-scale structures. The optical properties of the nSi surfaces produced using these two metals are shown to be very similar. The majority of the work focuses on Ag due to the demonstrated superior electronic properties of the resulting samples. The investigation of Ag textured MAE nSi extends from basic optical performance to the effect on optical performance of high temperature process steps, initial surface roughness, the addition of a dielectric coating and
Journal ArticleDOI
A unique solid-solid transformation of silver nanoparticles on reactive ion-etching-processed silicon.
Seung Yong Lee,Oded Rabin +1 more
TL;DR: The new silver deposition process was utilized to localize the growth of gold nanoparticles and silicon nanowires on the vertical sidewalls of patterns in silicon, demonstrating a simple route to the fabrication of overhanging nanoscale objects.
Journal ArticleDOI
Fabrication for Cu/Hydrogen Silsesquioxane Damascene Structure by Nanoimprint
Chih-Chieh Hsu,Fon-Shan Huang +1 more
TL;DR: In this article, a simple method for Cu/hydrogen silsesquioxane (HSQ) single damascene fabrication without the conventional chemical mechanical polish process was demonstrated, where 100 nm wide Cu nanowires were fabricated by electron-beam lithography and immersion plating with plating bath CuSO 4 /HF.
Journal ArticleDOI
Gold nanowires fabricated by immersion plating.
TL;DR: The growth mechanism of oriented Au nanowires fabricated by immersion plating was investigated and voids, nanograins, and clusters were observed at various plating conditions, time and temperature.
Journal ArticleDOI
Modification of the Silicon Surface by Electroless Deposition of Platinum from HF Solutions
TL;DR: In this article, the results of a global electrochemical process were discussed in terms of the silicon valence band and the final morphological situation is a porous silicon layer which contains platinum nuclei formed by filling pits originated in the first stages of the deposition process.