Methods for fabricating and etching porous silicon carbide structures
AssigneeElwha LLC
InventorsRachel Cannara, Emma Rae Mullen, Fred Sharifi
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Abstract
The present disclosure relates to methods of fabricating a porous structure, such as a porous silicon carbide structure. The methods can include a step of providing a structure to be rendered porous, and a step of providing an etching solution. The methods can also include a step of electrochemically etching the structure to produce pores through at least a region of the structure, resulting in the formation of a porous structure. The morphology of the porous structure can be controlled by one or more parameters of the electrochemical etching process, such as the strength of the etching solution and/or the applied voltage.
Claims19
A method of fabricating a porous silicon carbide structure having a selected morphology, comprising:
- providing a silicon carbide structure;
- providing an etching solution comprising a reducing agent and an oxidizing agent;
- electrochemically etching the silicon carbide structure with the etching solution to produce pores through a region of the silicon carbide structure to form a porous silicon carbide structure, wherein electrochemically etching the silicon carbide structure comprises applying a voltage to a surface of the silicon carbide structure to produce a current through the region of the silicon carbide structure;
- and
- controlling an etch propagation rate of the etching solution through the region of the silicon carbide structure to achieve the selected morphology by changing at least one fabrication parameter including one or more of concentration of reducing agent, voltage, and use of a surfactant, wherein the current decreases at a substantially constant rate during the electrochemical etching step.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.