Novel Top-Down Wafer-Scale Fabrication of Single Crystal Silicon Nanowires

A now low-cost, top-down nanowire fabrication technology Is presented not requiring nanolithography and suitable for any conventional microtechnology cleanroom facility. This novel wafer-scale process technology uses a combination of angled thin-film deposition and etching of a metal layer In a precisely defined cavity with a single micrometer-scale photolithography step. Electrically functional silicon and metallic nanowires with lengths up to several millimeters, lateral widths of similar to 100 nm, and thicknesses similar to 20 nm have been realized and tested. Device characterization Includes a general description of device operation, electrochemical biasing, and sensitivity for sensor applications followed by electrical measurements showing linear I-v characteristics with specific contact resistivity rho(c) similar to 4 x 10(-4) Omega cm(2) and electrochemical behavior of the oxidized silicon nanowires Is described with the site-binding model.