Morphological and electrical study of p-type silicon nanowires synthesised by Ag-assisted electroless chemical etching

Fabrication of Silicon nanowires (SiNWs) by electroless etching of p-type (100) Silicon wafer using silver (Ag) particles as catalyst at room temperature has been reported in this paper. Dependence of SiNWs formation on Ag electroplating and etching time was investigated. Surface morphology of SiNWs has been studied using scanning electron microscope (SEM) for different samples. The length of SiNWs increased with time of etching and decreased with electroplating time. A systematic study regarding the surface topography of fabricated SiNWs was performed using atomic force microscope (AFM). A 3D profile of the surface on a nanoscale were analysed and compared with SEM images. The average diameter of 73.9 nm for SiNWs was measured using as-obtained AFM images. Electroplating and etching time had minimum effect on the diameter of as-fabricated SiNWs. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was used to extract the bonding information for SiNWs. Electrical properties were evaluated using two-probe source measuring unit. Resistivity of 0.11 Omega-cm was obtained for synthesised SiNWs. A cost-effective, environment friendly electroless metal assisted chemical etching process was used to successfully develop SiNWs from the bulk Silicon wafer.