ELECTROLUMINESCENT DEVICE BASED ON SILICON NANOPILLARS

Silicon nanopillars were fabricated by using deep UV lithography, high ly anisotropic silicon reactive ion etching based on fluorine chemistr y, and high-temperature thermal oxidation for further thinning. Pillar s with a diameter below 10 nm and a height in the 0.4-0.6 mu m range w ere obtained while lying on a very smooth bottom silicon surface. An i solating transparent polymer was then used to fill in the etched area containing the pillars and, therefore, planarize and isolate the pilla rs, Oxygen plasma was used in order to remove the resistance from the top of the pillars, They were then contacted by a thin contact layer ( gold or indium tin oxide), evaporated on the top of them, An Ohmic con tact was also formed on the back side of the wafer. The obtained devic e showed rectifying behavior and forward voltages exceeding 10-12 V el ectroluminescence was observed, visible with the naked eye. (C) 1996 A merican Institute of Physics.