The Chemistry of Aqueous Si(100) Etchants: Site-Specific Surface Reactions and the Role of Stress

Cornell University, Ithaca NY

Investigators

Abstract

The Analytical and Surface Chemistry (ASC) program of the Division of Chemistry supports the research project of Prof. Melissa Hines of the Department of Chemistry at Cornell University. Prof. Hines and her students will build upon their recent discovery of an anisotropic etchant that produces Si(100)surfaces with near-atomically flat morphologies and continue to develop new reactions and processes that enable the chemical control of surface morphology. They will study chemically etched Si(100) surfaces and the fundamental chemical mechanisms that control the evolution of Si(100) surface morphology during aqueous silicon etching using a combination of infrared absorption spectroscopy, scanning tunneling microscopy, and kinetic Monte Carlo simulations. The study will provide excellent training opportunities to graduate and undergraduate students in a cutting edge research field with direct relevance to high end applications in the semiconductor industry.