Femtosecond laser-induced formation of submicrometer spikes on a semiconductor substrate
AssigneePresident and Fellows of Harvard College
InventorsEric Mazur, Mengyan Shen
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Abstract
The present invention generally provides semiconductor substrates having submicron-sized surface features generated by irradiating the surface with ultra short laser pulses. In one aspect a method of processing a semiconductor substrate is disclosed that includes placing at least a portion of a surface of the substrate in contact with a fluid, and exposing that surface portion to one or more femtosecond pulses so as to modify the topography of that portion. The modification can include, e.g., generating a plurality of submicron-sized spikes in an upper layer of the surface.
Claims18
A substrate, comprising:
- a semiconductor substrate, wherein a surface layer of the semiconductor substrate exhibits a modified topography having a plurality of irregular features having an average height less than about 1 micrometer and an average width in a range of about 100 nm to about 500 nm, each of said irregular features exhibiting an undulating side surface extending from a base to a tip,
- wherein said plurality of irregular features exhibit an average separation between adjacent features of about 500 nm.
A substrate, comprising:
- a semiconductor substrate, wherein a surface layer of the semiconductor substrate includes a plurality of protrusions of various heights, the plurality of protrusions characterized by an average width in a range of about 100 nm to about 300 nm and average ratio of height to width in a range of 3 to 10,
- wherein said protrusions exhibit an average separation between adjacent protrusions of about 500 nm.
A substrate, comprising:
- a semiconductor substrate, wherein a surface layer of the semiconductor substrate includes a plurality of protrusions of various heights, each of the plurality of protrusions characterized by an undulating side surface extending from a base to a tip, said plurality of protrusions having an average height less than about 1 micrometer, wherein said protrusions have a width in a range of about 100 nm to about 500 nm.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.