20 nm silicon nanorods fabricated by reactive ion etch

Silicon nanorod with 20 nm diameter size is fabricated on single-crystalline silicon surface by reactive ion etch. Silicon dioxide nanoparticle is dispersed on surface by spin-coating to form monolayer and is used as the etching mask. SF₆ and O₂ are used for reactive ion etching. The gas mixture ratio is optimized for anisotropic etching of nano-structures. Surface damage of the crystal lattice is monitored using microwave-reflectance photo-conductance decay technique with the removal and probe scheme. Vertical etch damage region is measured to be within 30 nm.