STUDY ON THERMAL-OXIDATION OF SI NANOWIRES

In this paper we reported the results on the low-temperature thermal o xidation of Si nanowires. Various polygon-shaped Si nanowires with lin ewidths between 100 and 300 nm were fabricated on Si/Si1-xGex/Si heter ostructure substrates by using lithography, reactive ion etching, and subsequent selective chemical etching. We find that oxidized Si nanowi res following 750 and 775 degrees C wet oxidation will keep the same s hape as the initial unoxidized samples, and all the SiO2 boundaries of oxidized samples will arrive at a circular shape. These results, whic h should be due to stress effects, provide useful information for unde rstanding the behavior of non-planar oxidation that is used in modern Si nanoelectronic technology.