Effect of temperature to the structure of silicon nanowires growth by metal-assisted chemical etching

A simple and low cost method to produce well aligned silicon nanowires at large areas using metal assisted chemical etching at various temperature were presented. The high aspect ratio structure of silicon nanowires growth by anisotropic wet etching method was observed. Prior to the etching, the formation of silicon nanowires was by metal assisted chemical etching (MACE) in solution containing hydrofluoric acid and hydrogen peroxide in Teflon vessel. The silver nanoparticle was deposited on substrate by immersion in hydrofluoric acid and silver nitrate solution for sixty second. The silicon nanowires were grown in different temperature which are room temperature, 30°C, 40°C, 65°C and 80°C.The effect of increasing temperature to the formation of silicon nanowires was studied. The morphological properties of silicon nanowires were investigated using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDX). The optical properties of silicon nanowires were investigated using Uv-Vis spectroscopy.