Bottom-up nanoscale patterning and selective deposition on silicon nanowires

Abstract

We demonstrate a bottom-up process for programming the deposition of coaxial thin films aligned to the underlying dopant profile of semiconductor nanowires. Our process synergistically combines three distinct methods—vapor–liquid–solid nanowire growth, selective coaxial lithography via etching of surfaces (SCALES), and area-selective atomic layer deposition (AS-ALD)—into a cohesive whole. Here, we study ZrO2 on Si nanowires as a model system. Si nanowires are first grown with an axially modulated n-Si/i-Si dopant profile. SCALES then yields coaxial poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) masks on the n-Si regions. Subsequent AS-ALD of ZrO2 occurs on the exposed i-Si regions and not on those masked by PMMA. We show the spatial relationship between nanowire dopant profile, PMMA masks, and ZrO2 films, confirming the programmability of the process. The nanoscale resolution of our process coupled with the plethora of available AS-ALD chemistries promises a range of future opportunities to generate structurally complex nanoscale materials and electronic devices using entirely bottom-up methods.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Dec 13, 2021
Source ID
10.1088/1361-6528/ac3bed

Entities

People

  • Amar Mohabir
  • Amy Brummer
  • Daniel Aziz
  • Eric M Vogel
  • Kathleen Leal Taylor
  • Michael A Filler

Organizations

  • Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
  • National Science Foundation

Tags

Readers

  • Materials Science and Engineering.
  • Nanoscale Plasmonic Nanotechnology
  • Theoretical Analysis.

Technology Areas

  • Microelectronics
  • Microelectronics - Graphene