The Chemistry of Etching: Understanding Kinetic Surface Morphologies on an Atomic Scale

这项研究项目得到了分析和表面化学计划的支持，旨在研究硅表面刻蚀的机理。康奈尔大学化学系的海因斯教授和她的同事结合使用扫描探针显微镜和动力学蒙特卡罗模拟方法，研究了刻蚀条件对硅表面形貌的影响。实验涉及用KOH溶液对硅(111)表面进行水溶液刻蚀，以及用于制造多孔硅材料的硅表面的阳极刻蚀。研究了阶梯取向、阶梯密度、硅掺杂以及腐蚀剂组成和浓度的影响。这项工作的结果对于纳米材料技术的设计以及电子材料加工策略的开发都是重要的。有关化学腐蚀剂如何从硅片表面去除材料的信息对于制造微电子机械(MEMS)器件的工艺设计以及电子和光子器件的生产都很重要。这项研究项目的工作旨在加深对硅的水溶液和电化学刻蚀的了解，目的是在微观上了解是什么控制了刻蚀表面的原子和纳米级形貌。在分析和表面化学计划的支持下，康奈尔大学的海因斯教授和她的同事们正在使用显微镜和计算机模拟相结合的方法来获得这些信息。

This research project, supported in the Analytical and Surface Chemistry Program, addresses the mechanism of etching of silicon surfaces. Using a combination of scanning probe microscopy and kinetic Monte Carlo simulation methods, Professor Hines and her colleagues in the Department of Chemistry at Cornell University are investigating the effect of etching conditions on the silicon surface morphology. Experiments are addressing the aqueous etching of the Si(111) surface by KOH solution, as well as the anodic etching of silicon surfaces used to create porous silicon materials. The effects of step orientation, step density, and silicon dopant, as well as etchant composition and concentration are being examined. Results of this work are important for the design of nanomaterial technologies, as well as for the development of electronic materials processing strategies. Information about how chemical etchants remove material from the surface of a silicon wafer is important for the design of processes to make micro-electromechanical (MEMS) devices, and for the production of electronic and photonic devices. The work of this research project is directed to developing an understanding of the aqueous and electrochemical etching of silicon, with the goal of developing a microscopic understanding of what controls the atomic and nano-scale morphology of the etched surface. With the support of the Analytical and Surface Chemistry Program, Professor Hines and her colleagues at Cornell, are using a combination of microscopy and computer simulation to obtain this information.