摘要 |
A system for making porous silicon on blank and patterned Si substrates by "immersion scanning", particularly suitable for fabricating light-emitting Si devices and utilizing an open electrolytic cell having a cathode and an opposing anode consisting of a Si substrate on which the porous silicon is to be formed, both disposed, with their opposing surfaces in parallel, in an aqueous HF solution electrolyte contained in the cell. The substrate anode is mounted to be movable relative to the electrolyte so as to be mechanically cycled or scanned in and out of the electrolyte at a programmable rate during anodization. The uniformity, thickness and porosity of the resulting anodized layer on the substrate are determined by the scanning speed, number of cycles, current density, and HF-based electrolyte concentration parameters of the system, and the Si substrate resistivity, conductivity type, and crystal orientation. The light-emitting silicon devices produced incorporate porous silicon layers and are operable at room temperature. <IMAGE> |