Nanostructure formation via print diffusion etching through block copolymer templates.
The present work demonstrates nanoscale etching of silicon with standard aqueous fluoride etchants running through the hydrophilic domains of a vertically aligned copolymer template. The delivery of etchants was unprecedentedly achieved by an etchant-solution-saturated agarose gel stamp, a technique we call print diffusion etching. Three-dimensional nanoprotrusion features with controllable shapes and sizes (about 20 nm) were formed. To prove that the block copolymers serve to direct the silicon surface morphology by controlling the spatial location of the reaction as well as concentration of reagents, the same etching steps both on silicon and PS-b-PEO (polystyrene-block-polyethyleneoxide) templates were carried out for comparison. The mechanism of the nanoprotrusion formation was elucidated, and the morphology evolution vs. etching time studied.
Liu
Ying
Y
State Key Laboratory of Solid Lubrication, Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China.
Hao
Jingcheng
J
Zhou
Feng
F
D004058:Diffusion; D005459:Fluorides / Q000737:chemistry; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry*; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols / Q000737:chemistry*; D011137:Polystyrenes / Q000737:chemistry*; D012825:Silicon / Q000737:chemistry
D011137:Polystyrenes; C541965:polystyrene-b-poly(ethylene oxide); D011092:Polyethylene Glycols; D005459:Fluorides; D012825:Silicon