Fabrication of highly ordered metallic arrays and silicon pillars with controllable size using nanosphere lithography

Large highly ordered periodic arrays of metallic particles and silicon pillar arrays were prepared using nanosphere lithography. First, an ordered single layer of PS nanosphere with a diameter of 220 nm was coated on the substrate. Then, this single layer works as a deposition mask. By metal deposition and reactive ion etching (RIE) technique, we fabricated ordered periodic metallic particle and silicon pillar arrays. The size of particle is determined easily by changing the initial diameter of PS sphere. And the diameter of silicon pillar is determined by controlling the etching time. This technique of forming nanostructure arrays using nanosphere lithography can be applied in many areas of science and technology.