Making nanochannels and nanotunnels
AssigneeThe United States of America as represented by the Secretary of Commerce
InventorBabak Nikoobakht, IV
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A process for making a nanoduct includes: disposing an etchant catalyst on a semiconductor substrate including a single crystal structure; heating the semiconductor substrate to an etching temperature; introducing an oxidant; contacting the semiconductor substrate with the oxidant in a presence of the etchant catalyst; anisotropically etching the semiconductor substrate by the etchant catalyst in a presence of the oxidant in an etch direction that is coincident along a crystallographic axis of the semiconductor substrate; and forming the nanoduct as the etchant catalyst propagates along a surface of the semiconductor substrate during anisotropically etching the semiconductor substrate, the nanoduct being crystallographically aligned with the crystallographic axis of the semiconductor substrate.
Claims20
A process for making a nanoduct, the process comprising:
- disposing an etchant catalyst on a semiconductor substrate comprising a single crystal structure;
- heating the semiconductor substrate to an etching temperature;
- introducing an oxidant;
- contacting the semiconductor substrate with the oxidant in a presence of the etchant catalyst;
- anisotropically etching the semiconductor substrate by the etchant catalyst in a presence of the oxidant in an etch direction that is coincident along a crystallographic axis of the semiconductor substrate;
- and
- forming the nanoduct as the etchant catalyst propagates along a surface of the semiconductor substrate during anisotropically etching the semiconductor substrate, the nanoduct being crystallographically aligned with the crystallographic axis of the semiconductor substrate.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.