Relationship between metal-assisted chemical etching condition using self-assembled particle mask and obtained morphology

Effect of dry etching process before deposition of catalyst metal

Abstract

Metal assisted chemical etching of silicon produces high aspect ratio structure on a silicon substrate and thus expected to be applied to various functional surfaces. The key is patterning of catalyst metal layer of gold. In this study, self-assembly of φ1 μm particles were used as a mask and regular pattern of pits along hexagonal packed structure was produced and etched. With the increase in etching time, the height of silicon pillars increased and then they got together or aggregated forming bundles of nano-pillars. The detail observation was made and summarized to make clear the guideline to produce functional surface.