Area Effect of Reflectance in Silicon Nanowires Grown by Electroless Etching

This paper shows that the reflectance in silicon nanowires (SiNWs) can be optimized as a function of the area of silicon substrate where the nanostructure growth. SiNWs were fabricated over four different areas of silicon substrates to study the size effects using electroless etching technique. Three different etching solution concentrations of silver nitrate (AgNO3) and hydrofluoric acid (HF) at room temperature were used in the electroless etching process. Experiments showed that the reflectance in SiNWs can be decreased when the concentration of silver nitrate was optimized for a determinate size of silicon substrate.