title: Porous silicon: a resourceful material for nanotechnology.
abstract: Nanostructured materials possess better tunability of their properties by varying their crystallite size compared to their bulk counterparts. These properties have opened up new avenues for fabricating highly sensitive, miniaturized and cost effective devices. Some of the drawbacks of these materials can be overcome by band gap engineering and/or making composites or core shell structures. Porous silicon obtained by electrochemical etching of polished silicon is a versatile material for nanotechnology applications due to its tunable pore size, porosity, thermal and mechanical properties, optical and electrical properties, biocompatibility, biodegradability, and most importantly, compatibility with microelectronics. This article gives an overall view of the various applications of porous silicon in nanotechnology.
authors.affiliation: Chemistry Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Center, Mumbai 400 085, India. bettyca@barc.gov.in
authors.forename: Chirayath A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Betty
mesh_terms: D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry; D001698:Biomedical Engineering / Q000379:methods; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008839:Microelectrodes; D008954:Models, Biological; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D016062:Porosity; D012825:Silicon / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D012825:Silicon