Investigation of Metal-assisted Si Etching for Fabrication of Nanoimprint Lithography Stamps

Sammanfattning: This diploma thesis deals with the investigation of the metal-assisted catalytic etching (MaCE) of Si. One of the main goals is to study fabrication of stamps for nanoimprint lithography using MaCE. Formation of nanoporous silicon (PSi), Si nanowires (SiNWs) and three-dimensional nanostructures in Si by MaCE is demonstrated. For this purpose optical lithography, electron beam lithography (EBL), shadow mask evaporation and aerosol nanoparticles deposition techniques have been utilized. The etching rate and surface morphology of Si (with Au lift-off films as a catalyst) as functions of time and concentrations of chemicals are measured in the current diploma work using optical microscope and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). In the current thesis it is shown that Si structures with sub-150 nm lateral sizes, high aspect ratio (up to 1:21), well-defined shapes, and various complexity can easily be fabricated by means of MaCE process.