Porous Silicon as a Sacrificial Material for Microstructures Fabrication

1999 ◽  
Vol 605 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Morel ◽  
M. Le Berre ◽  
V. Lysenko ◽  
G. Delhomme ◽  
A. Dittmar ◽  
...  

AbstractPorous silicon (PS) is generated by electrochemical etching in hydrofluoric acid (HF). Recently porous silicon has been applied to micromachining and micro-devices as an alternate material, this material being used as a sacrificial layer. This technology competes with conventional techniques like surface and bulk micromachining regarding its speed, simplicity and reduced costs. A wide range of microstructures and free-standing structures can be fabricated with a large freedom of design in relation to the isotropic behavior of the etching. A sacrificial layer may be realized fast over varying thickness (PS formation rate 45 μm/h compared to silicon bulk micromachining rate 20 μm/h for KOH etching).This contribution is devoted to the materials aspects of patterning and processing: we will show how basic microstructures (trenches, polysilicon cantilevers, polysilicon free-standing membranes) may be fabricated using a very simple process based on a single photolithography. The important points are the choice of the mask, porous silicon properties as a function of its formation parameters and the choice of the solution removing the sacrificial layer. The morphology and porosity of the porous silicon layers are indeed mainly determined by the electrolyte composition and by the current density for a given substrate type. Optimized conditions (HF 15% and 80 mA/cm2) lead us to an appropriate porous silicon. Finally the applicability of this technology for various microsensors will be underlined.

1996 ◽  
Vol 452 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Von Behren ◽  
P. M. Fauchet ◽  
E. H. Chimowitz ◽  
C. T. Lira

AbstractHighly luminescent free-standing porous silicon thin films of excellent optical quality have been manufactured by using electrochemical etching and lift-off steps combined with supercritical drying. One to 50 μm thick free-standing layers made from highly (p+) and moderately (p) Boron doped single crystal silicon (c-Si) substrates have been produced with porosities (P) up to 95 %. The Fabry-Pérot fringes observed in the transmission and photoluminescence (PL) spectra are used to determine the refractive index. At the highest P the index of refraction is below 1.2 from the IR to 2 eV. The absorption coefficients follow a nearly exponential behavior in the energy range from 1.2 eV and 4 eV. The porosity corrected absorption spectra of free-standing films made from p type c-Si substrates are blue shifted with respect to those prepared from p+ substrates. For P > 70 % a blue shift is also observed in PL. At equal porosities the luminescence intensities of porous silicon films made from p+ and p type c-Si are different by one order of magnitude.


1996 ◽  
Vol 459 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Kaltsas ◽  
A. G. Nassiopoulos

ABSTRACTA fully C-MOS compatible process for bulk silicon micromachining using porous silicon technology and front-side lithography is developed. The process is based on the use of porous silicon as a sacrificial layer for the fabrication of deep cavities into monocrystalline silicon, so as to avoid back side lithography. Cavities as deep as several hundreds of micrometers are produced with very smooth surface and sidewalls. The process is used to produce : a) suspended monocrystalline silicon membranes, b) free standing polysilicon membranes in the form of bridges or cantilevers with lateral dimensions from a few μms to several hundreds of μms. Important applications to silicon integrated devices as sensors, actuators, detectors etc., are foreseen.


1994 ◽  
Vol 358 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Von Behren ◽  
L. Tsybeskov ◽  
P. M. Fauchet

ABSTRACTUsing special electrochemical etching and lift-off steps, we have fabricated large-area freestanding porous silicon films in the thickness range from 0.1 μm to 50 μm. Their transmission is near 100% in the near infrared which is indicative of very high porosity/low index of refraction films. These optically flat and homogeneous films exhibit no surface and bulk scattering, despite the fact that they did not undergo supercritical drying. The relationship between the absorption coefficient, the luminescence spectrum, and the chemical and structural properties is examined as a function of preparation and post-treatment conditions. Because of their superior optical properties, these films are suitable for many device applications.


2005 ◽  
Vol 295-296 ◽  
pp. 125-132
Author(s):  
Xing Hua Qu ◽  
X.H. Zhao ◽  
S.H. Ye

Porous silicon with pore size in the range of a few nanometers can be used as multifunctional material in different MEMS applications. Via an electrochemical etching method, porous silicon is fabricated on the silicon substrate and removed as a sacrificial layer by using KOH solution to form a micro structure. This technique is typical in micro fabrication. Three-dimensional size is the basic geometric feature to describe microstructure surface characteristics. It is important to investigate measurement methods for it. UBM Microfocus Measurement System based on defocusing error detection is adopted to measure eroded depth of silicon cup. The measured data in the experiments are analyzed. The influence of etching time, current density and silicon type on etching depth can be acquired. Effective reference data can be provided for studying micro fabrication methods.


Author(s):  
Marta B. Silva ◽  
Ely D. Kovetz ◽  
Garrett K. Keating ◽  
Azadeh Moradinezhad Dizgah ◽  
Matthieu Bethermin ◽  
...  

AbstractThis paper outlines the science case for line-intensity mapping with a space-borne instrument targeting the sub-millimeter (microwaves) to the far-infrared (FIR) wavelength range. Our goal is to observe and characterize the large-scale structure in the Universe from present times to the high redshift Epoch of Reionization. This is essential to constrain the cosmology of our Universe and form a better understanding of various mechanisms that drive galaxy formation and evolution. The proposed frequency range would make it possible to probe important metal cooling lines such as [CII] up to very high redshift as well as a large number of rotational lines of the CO molecule. These can be used to trace molecular gas and dust evolution and constrain the buildup in both the cosmic star formation rate density and the cosmic infrared background (CIB). Moreover, surveys at the highest frequencies will detect FIR lines which are used as diagnostics of galaxies and AGN. Tomography of these lines over a wide redshift range will enable invaluable measurements of the cosmic expansion history at epochs inaccessible to other methods, competitive constraints on the parameters of the standard model of cosmology, and numerous tests of dark matter, dark energy, modified gravity and inflation. To reach these goals, large-scale structure must be mapped over a wide range in frequency to trace its time evolution and the surveyed area needs to be very large to beat cosmic variance. Only a space-borne mission can properly meet these requirements.


Nanomaterials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 1651
Author(s):  
Cristina Arqueros ◽  
Félix Zamora ◽  
Carmen Montoro

Global population growth and water resource scarcity are significant social problems currently being studied by many researchers focusing on finding new materials for water treatment. The aim is to obtain quality water suitable for drinking and industrial consumption. In this sense, an emergent class of crystalline porous materials known as Covalent-Organic Frameworks (COFs) offers a wide range of possibilities since their structures can be designed on demand for specific applications. Indeed, in the last decade, many efforts have been made for their use in water treatment. This perspective article aims to overview the state-of-the-art COFs collecting the most recent results in the field for water detection of pollutants and water treatment. After the introduction, where we overview the classical design strategies on COF design and synthesis for obtaining chemically stable COFs, we summarize the different experimental methodologies used for COFs processing in the form of supported and free-standing membranes and colloids. Finally, we describe the use of COFs in processes involving the detection of pollutants in water and wastewater treatment, such as the capture of organic compounds, heavy metals, and dyes, the degradation of organic pollutants, as well as in desalination processes. Finally, we provide a perspective on the field and the potential technological use of these novel materials.


2021 ◽  
Vol 504 (2) ◽  
pp. 2325-2345
Author(s):  
Emanuel Sillero ◽  
Patricia B Tissera ◽  
Diego G Lambas ◽  
Stefano Bovino ◽  
Dominik R Schleicher ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT We present p-gadget3-k, an updated version of gadget-3, that incorporates the chemistry package krome. p-gadget3-k follows the hydrodynamical and chemical evolution of cosmic structures, incorporating the chemistry and cooling of H2 and metal cooling in non-equilibrium. We performed different runs of the same ICs to assess the impact of various physical parameters and prescriptions, namely gas metallicity, molecular hydrogen formation on dust, star formation recipes including or not H2 dependence, and the effects of numerical resolution. We find that the characteristics of the simulated systems, both globally and at kpc-scales, are in good agreement with several observable properties of molecular gas in star-forming galaxies. The surface density profiles of star formation rate (SFR) and H2 are found to vary with the clumping factor and resolution. In agreement with previous results, the chemical enrichment of the gas component is found to be a key ingredient to model the formation and distribution of H2 as a function of gas density and temperature. A star formation algorithm that takes into account the H2 fraction together with a treatment for the local stellar radiation field improves the agreement with observed H2 abundances over a wide range of gas densities and with the molecular Kennicutt–Schmidt law, implying a more realistic modelling of the star formation process.


1992 ◽  
Vol 283 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Tsu ◽  
L. Ioriatti ◽  
J. F. Harvey ◽  
H. Shen ◽  
R. A. Lux

ABSTRACTThe reduction of the dielectric constant due to quantum confinement is studied both experimentally and theoretically. Angle resolved ellipsometry measurements with Ar- and He-Ne-lasers give values for the index of refraction far below what can be accounted for from porosity alone. A modified Penn model to include quantum size effects has been used to calculate the reduction in the static dielectric constant (ε) with extreme confinement. Since the binding energy of shallow impurities depends inversely on ε2, the drastic decrease in the carrier concentration as a result of the decrease in ε leads to a self-limiting process for the electrochemical etching of porous silicon.


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