Silicon flower structures by maskless plasma etching

Silicon nano/microstructures are widely utilized in the semiconductor industry, and plasma etching is the most prominent method for fabricating silicon nano/microstructures. Among the variety of silicon nano/microstructures, black silicon with light-trapping properties has garnered broad interest from both the scientific and industrial communities. However, the fabrication mechanism of black silicon remains unclear, and the light absorption of black silicon only focuses on the near-infrared region thus far. Herein, we demonstrate that black silicon can be fabricated from individual flower-like silicon microstructures. Using fluorocarbon gases as etchants, silicon flower microstructures have been formed via maskless plasma etching. Black silicon forming from silicon flower microstructures exhibits strong absorption with wavelength from 0.25 μm to 20 μm. The result provides novel insight into the understanding of the plasma etching mechanism in addition to offering further significant practical applications for device manufacturing.

A Dual Four-Quadrant Photodetector Based on Near-Infrared Enhanced Nanometer Black Silicon

In this paper, a new preparation process of nanometer black silicon is proposed, by which high trapping optical Se-doped black silicon material is prepared by nanosecond pulsed laser ablation of high-resistance silicon coated with Se film in HF gas atmosphere. The results indicate that the average absorptivity of 400-2200 nm band before annealing is 96.81%, and the absorptivity maintains at 81.28% after annealing at 600 degrees. Meanwhile, black silicon prepared under the new technology is used in double four-quadrant photodetector, the results show that, at a reversed bias of 50 V, the average unit responsiveness is 0.528 A/W at 1060 nm and 0.102 A/W at 1180 nm, and the average dark current is 2 nA at inner quadrants and 8 nA at outer quadrants. The dual four-quadrant photodetector based on near-infrared enhanced black silicon has the advantages of high responsiveness, low dark current, fast response and low crosstalk, hence it is appropriate for a series of direction of applications, such as night vision detection and medical field.

Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy of Organic Molecules and Living Cells with Gold-Plated Black Silicon

Black silicon (bSi) refers to an etched silicon surface comprising arrays of microcones that effectively suppress reflection from UV to near-infrared (NIR) while simultaneously enhancing the scattering and absorption of light. This makes bSi covered with a nm-thin layer of plasmonic metal, i.e., gold, an attractive substrate material for sensing of bio-macromolecules and living cells using surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). The performed Raman measurements accompanied with finite element numerical simulation and density functional theory analysis revealed that at the 785 nm excitation wavelength, the SERS enhancement factor of the bSi/Au substrate is as high as 10⁸ due to a combination of electromagnetic and chemical mechanisms. This finding makes the SERS-active bSi/Au substrate suitable for detecting trace amounts of organic molecules. We demonstrate the outstanding performance of this substrate by highly sensitive and specific detection of a small organic molecule of 4-mercaptobenzoic acid and living C6 rat glioma cell nucleic acids/proteins/lipids. Specifically, the bSi/Au SERS-active substrate offers a unique opportunity to investigate the living cells' malignant transformation using characteristic protein disulfide Raman bands as a marker. Our findings evidence that bSi/Au provides a pathway to the highly sensitive and selective, scalable, and low-cost substrate for lab-on-a-chip SERS biosensors that can be integrated into silicon-based photonics devices.

Enhanced near-infrared absorber: two-step fabricated structured black silicon and its device application

Silicon is widely used in semiconductor industry but has poor performance in near-infrared photoelectronic devices because of its high reflectance and band gap limit. In this study, two-step process, deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) method combined with plasma immersion ion implantation (PIII), are used to fabricate microstructured black silicon on the surface of C-Si. These improved surfaces doped with sulfur elements realize a narrower band gap and an enhancement of light absorptance, especially in the near-infrared range (800 to 2000 nm). Meanwhile, the maximum light absorptance increases significantly up to 83%. A Si-PIN photoelectronic detector with microstructured black silicon at the back surface exhibits remarkable device performance, leading to a responsivity of 0.53 A/W at 1060 nm. This novel microstructured black silicon, combining narrow band gap characteristic, could have a potential application in near-infrared photoelectronic detection.

Review Application of Nanostructured Black Silicon

As a widely used semiconductor material, silicon has been extensively used in many areas, such as photodiode, photodetector, and photovoltaic devices. However, the high surface reflectance and large bandgap of traditional bulk silicon restrict the full use of the spectrum. To solve this problem, many methods have been developed. Among them, the surface nanostructured silicon, namely black silicon, is the most efficient and widely used. Due to its high absorption in the wide range from UV-visible to infrared, black silicon is very attractive for using as sensitive layer of photodiodes, photodetector, solar cells, field emission, luminescence, and other photoelectric devices. Intensive study has been performed to understand the enhanced absorption of black silicon as well as the response extended to infrared spectrum range. In this paper, the application of black silicon is systematically reviewed. The limitations and challenges of black silicon material are also discussed. This article will provide a meaningful introduction to black silicon and its unique properties.

Subtle Variations in Surface Properties of Black Silicon Surfaces Influence the Degree of Bactericidal Efficiency

One of the major challenges faced by the biomedical industry is the development of robust synthetic surfaces that can resist bacterial colonization. Much inspiration has been drawn recently from naturally occurring mechano-bactericidal surfaces such as the wings of cicada (Psaltoda claripennis) and dragonfly (Diplacodes bipunctata) species in fabricating their synthetic analogs. However, the bactericidal activity of nanostructured surfaces is observed in a particular range of parameters reflecting the geometry of nanostructures and surface wettability. Here, several of the nanometer-scale characteristics of black silicon (bSi) surfaces including the density and height of the nanopillars that have the potential to influence the bactericidal efficiency of these nanostructured surfaces have been investigated. The results provide important evidence that minor variations in the nanoarchitecture of substrata can substantially alter their performance as bactericidal surfaces.

An Investigation on a Crystalline-Silicon Solar Cell with Black Silicon Layer at the Rear

Crystalline-Si (c-Si) solar cell with black Si (b-Si) layer at the rear was studied in order to develop c-Si solar cell with sub-band gap photovoltaic response. The b-Si was made by chemical etching. The c-Si solar cell with b-Si at the rear was found to perform far better than that of similar structure but with no b-Si at the rear, with the efficiency being increased relatively by 27.7%. This finding was interesting as b-Si had a large specific surface area, which could cause high surface recombination and degradation of solar cell performance. A graded band gap was found to form at the rear of the c-Si solar cell with b-Si layer at the rear. This graded band gap tended to expel free electrons away from the rear, thus reducing the probability of electron-hole recombination at b-Si and improving the performance of c-Si solar cell.

Optimization of the Surface Structure on Black Silicon for Surface Passivation

Black silicon shows excellent anti-reflection and thus is extremely useful for photovoltaic applications. However, its high surface recombination velocity limits the efficiency of solar cells. In this paper, the effective minority carrier lifetime of black silicon is improved by optimizing metal-catalyzed chemical etching (MCCE) method, using an Al₂O₃ thin film deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD) as a passivation layer. Using the spray method to eliminate the impact on the rear side, single-side black silicon was obtained on n-type solar grade silicon wafers. Post-etch treatment with NH₄OH/H₂O₂/H₂O mixed solution not only smoothes the surface but also increases the effective minority lifetime from 161 μs of as-prepared wafer to 333 μs after cleaning. Moreover, adding illumination during the etching process results in an improvement in both the numerical value and the uniformity of the effective minority carrier lifetime.

Silicon Nanowires for Solar Thermal Energy Harvesting: an Experimental Evaluation on the Trade-off Effects of the Spectral Optical Properties

Silicon nanowire possesses great potential as the material for renewable energy harvesting and conversion. The significantly reduced spectral reflectivity of silicon nanowire to visible light makes it even more attractive in solar energy applications. However, the benefit of its use for solar thermal energy harvesting remains to be investigated and has so far not been clearly reported. The purpose of this study is to provide practical information and insight into the performance of silicon nanowires in solar thermal energy conversion systems. Spectral hemispherical reflectivity and transmissivity of the black silicon nanowire array on silicon wafer substrate were measured. It was observed that the reflectivity is lower in the visible range but higher in the infrared range compared to the plain silicon wafer. A drying experiment and a theoretical calculation were carried out to directly evaluate the effects of the trade-off between scattering properties at different wavelengths. It is clearly seen that silicon nanowires can improve the solar thermal energy harnessing. The results showed that a 17.8 % increase in the harvest and utilization of solar thermal energy could be achieved using a silicon nanowire array on silicon substrate as compared to that obtained with a plain silicon wafer.

Black-Silicon on Micropillars with Minimal Surface Area Enlargement to Enhance the Performance of Silicon Solar Cells

Although black silicon is used widely as an antireflection coating in solar cells, the corresponding electrical properties are usually poor because the accompanied enlarged surface area can result in increased recombination. Moreover, the high aspect ratio of fragile nanostructured black silicon makes conformal passivation even more challenging. Micropillars are promising alternative candidates for efficiently collecting carriers because the diffusion distance for minority carriers to reach the p-n junction can be shortened; however, the pillar diameter is usually larger than the wavelength of light, inherently increasing the surface reflection. In this paper, we report an approach for decreasing the surface reflection of black silicon and micropillar structures: combining them together to create a dual-scale superstructure that improves the electrical and optical properties concurrently. The reflection of the micropillars decreased significantly as the surface was decorated with a thin black silicon layer, and the thickness of black silicon required for low reflection was reduced as the black silicon was positioned atop micropillars. Three-dimensional finite difference time domain simulations supported these results. Moreover, with such a thin decoration layer, the superstructure displayed improved power conversion efficiency after silicon nitride passivation, suggesting great potential for such superstructures when applied in solar cells.

The Enhanced Light Absorptance and Device Application of Nanostructured Black Silicon Fabricated by Metal-assisted Chemical Etching

We use metal-assisted chemical etching (MCE) method to fabricate nanostructured black silicon on the surface of C-Si. The Si-PIN photoelectronic detector based on this type of black silicon shows excellent device performance with a responsivity of 0.57 A/W at 1060 nm. Silicon nanocone arrays can be created using MCE treatment. These modified surfaces show higher light absorptance in the near-infrared range (800 to 2500 nm) compared to that of C-Si with polished surfaces, and the variations in the absorption spectra of the nanostructured black silicon with different etching processes are obtained. The maximum light absorptance increases significantly up to 95 % in the wavelength range of 400 to 2500 nm. Our recent novel results clearly indicate that nanostructured black silicon made by MCE has potential application in near-infrared photoelectronic detectors.

Near-infrared optical absorption enhanced in black silicon via Ag nanoparticle-induced localized surface plasmon

Due to the localized surface plasmon (LSP) effect induced by Ag nanoparticles inside black silicon, the optical absorption of black silicon is enhanced dramatically in near-infrared range (1,100 to 2,500 nm). The black silicon with Ag nanoparticles shows much higher absorption than black silicon fabricated by chemical etching or reactive ion etching over ultraviolet to near-infrared (UV-VIS-NIR, 250 to 2,500 nm). The maximum absorption even increased up to 93.6% in the NIR range (820 to 2,500 nm). The high absorption in NIR range makes LSP-enhanced black silicon a potential material used for NIR-sensitive optoelectronic device.

PACS

78.67.Bf; 78.30.Fs; 78.40.-q; 42.70.Gi.