Semiconductor manufactured nano-structures for microbe or virus trapping or destruction

A method of damaging or destroying a microbe or a virion, the method comprising:

• forming an array of protrusions arranged on a semiconductor substrate by forming a diamond-shaped epitaxial growth on a surface of a semiconductor bar structure extending from a surface of the semiconductor substrate, the array of protrusions having nanoscale dimensions;
• disposing a solution comprising a microbe or virion onto the array of protrusions;
• and
• damaging or destroying the microbe or the virion;
• wherein forming the array of protrusions comprises patterning a hard mask on the semiconductor substrate to form an array of cube-shaped hard mask structures on the semiconductor substrate, recessing the semiconductor substrate to form trenches in the semiconductor substrate, performing a crystallographic etch to convert the trenches into inverted pyramid-shaped trenches, and removing remaining portions of the hard mask to form sharp protrusions.