Electrical double layer catalyzed wet-etching of silicon dioxide

Haitao Liu; Michael L Steigerwald; Colin Nuckolls

doi:10.1021/ja903333s

Electrical double layer catalyzed wet-etching of silicon dioxide

J Am Chem Soc. 2009 Dec 2;131(47):17034-5. doi: 10.1021/ja903333s.

Authors

Haitao Liu¹, Michael L Steigerwald, Colin Nuckolls

Affiliation

¹ Department of Chemistry and the Columbia University Center for Electronics of Molecular Nanostructures, Columbia University, 3000 Broadway, New York, New York 10027, USA.

PMID: 19489550
DOI: 10.1021/ja903333s

Abstract

We show that carbon nanotubes (CNTs) accelerate the wet etching of silicon dioxide in a strong alkaline solution. This catalytic effect is due to the spontaneous adsorption of hydroxide on the surface of the CNTs. Such adsorption creates an electrical double layer around the CNTs within which the concentration of hydroxide is higher than the bulk value. Our result suggests that the electrical double layer can be used to pattern nanoscale features. Fabrication of SiO(2) trenches with approximately 60 nm lateral resolution is demonstrated.