Optical Properties of Silicon Nanowires Fabricated by Environment-Friendly Chemistry

Silicon nanowires (SiNWs) were fabricated by metal-assisted chemical etching (MACE) where hydrofluoric acid (HF), which is typically used in this method, was changed into ammonium fluoride (NH4F). The structure and optical properties of the obtained SiNWs were investigated in details. The length of the SiNW arrays is about 2 μm for 5 min of etching, and the mean diameter of the SiNWs is between 50 and 200 nm. The formed SiNWs demonstrate a strong decrease of the total reflectance near 5-15 % in the spectral region λ < 1 μm in comparison to crystalline silicon (c-Si) substrate. The interband photoluminescence (PL) and Raman scattering intensities increase strongly for SiNWs in comparison with the corresponding values of the c-Si substrate. These effects can be interpreted as an increase of the excitation intensity of SiNWs due to the strong light scattering and the partial light localization in an inhomogeneous optical medium. Along with the interband PL was also detected the PL of SiNWs in the spectral region of 500-1100 nm with a maximum at 750 nm, which can be explained by the radiative recombination of excitons in small Si nanocrystals at nanowire sidewalls in terms of a quantum confinement model. So SiNWs, which are fabricated by environment-friendly chemistry, have a great potential for use in photovoltaic and photonics applications

Structural and Optical Properties of Silicon Nanowire Arrays Fabricated by Metal Assisted Chemical Etching With Ammonium Fluoride

Here we report on the metal assisted chemical etching method of silicon nanowires (SiNWs) manufacturing, where the commonly used hydrofluoric acid (HF) has been successfully replaced with ammonium fluoride (NH4F). The mechanism of the etching process and the effect of the pH values of H2O2: NH4F solutions on the structural and optical properties of nanowires were studied in detail. By an impedance and Mott-Schottky measurements it was shown that silver-assisted chemical etching of silicon can be attributed to a facilitated charge carriers transport through Si/SiOx/Ag interface. It was shown that the shape of nanowires changes from pyramidal to vertical with pH decreasing. Also it was established that the length of SiNW arrays non-linearly depends on the pH for the etching time of 10 min. A strong decrease of the total reflectance to 5–10% was shown for all the studied samples at the wavelength &lt;800 nm, in comparison with crystalline silicon substrate (c-Si). At the same time, the intensities of the interband photoluminescence and the Raman scattering of SiNWs are increased strongly in compare to c-Si value, and also they were depended on both the length and the shape of SiNW: the biggest values were for the long pyramidal nanowires. That can be explained by a strong light scattering and partial light localization in SiNWs. Hereby, arrays of SiNWs, obtained by using weakly toxic ammonium fluoride, have great potential for usage in photovoltaics, photonics, and sensorics