Silicon nanowire fabrication using edge and corner lithography

This paper presents a wafer scale fabrication method of single-crystalline silicon nanowires (SiNWs) bound by <111> planes using a combination of edge and corner lithography. These are methods of unconventional nanolithography for wafer scale nano-patterning which determine the size of nano-features to the formed. The pattern formed by conventional microlithography determines the location. The presented method is based on the low etch rate of <111>-planes. Initially, using edge lithography, nanoridges with ∼71° angle with the wafer surface and bound by <111>-planes are fabricated. Thereafter, corner lithography is used. The fabricated SiNWs can be isolated from the substrate by oxidation of the thin silicon base.