S. Azimi

Three-dimensional silicon micromachining

A process for fabricating arbitrary-shaped, two- and three-dimensional silicon and porous silicon components has been developed, based on high-energy ion irradiation, such as 250 keV to 1 MeV protons and helium. Irradiation alters the hole current flow during subsequent electrochemical anodization, allowing the anodization rate to be slowed or stopped for low/high fluences. For moderate fluences the anodization rate is selectively stopped only at depths corresponding to the high defect density at the end of ion range, allowing true three-dimensional silicon machining. The use of this process in fields including optics, photonics, holography and nanoscale depth machining is reviewed.

Fabrication of concave silicon micro-mirrors

We have fabricated spherical and cylindrical concave micro-mirrors in silicon with dimensions from 20 microm to 100 microm. The fabrication process involves standard photolithography followed by large area ion beam irradiation and electrochemical anodisation in a HF electrolyte. After thermal oxidation the silicon surface roughness is less than 2 nm. We also present a multilayer porous silicon distributed Bragg reflector fabricated on concave silicon surfaces which selectively reflect and focus a band of wavelengths from a parallel beam of incident white light. Development of such low roughness concave microstructures opens up new applications in areas such as silicon photonics and quantum information science.

Tuning the Interface Conductivity of LaAlO3/SrTiO3 Using Ion Beams: Implications for Patterning

Patterning of the two-dimensional electron gas formed at the interface of two band insulators such as LaAlO3/SrTiO3 is one of the key challenges in oxide electronics. The use of energetic ion beam exposure for engineering the interface conductivity has been investigated. We found that this method can be utilized to manipulate the conductivity at the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface by carrier localization, arising from the defects created by the ion beam exposure, eventually producing an insulating ground state. This process of ion-beam-induced defect creation results in structural changes in SrTiO3 as revealed by the appearance of first-order polar TO2 and TO4 vibrational modes which are associated with Ti-O bonds in the Raman spectra of the irradiated samples. Furthermore, significant observation drawn from the magnetotransport measurements is that the irradiated (unirradiated) samples showed a negative (positive) magnetoresistance along with simultaneous emergence of first-order (only second order) Raman modes. In spectroscopic ellipsometry measurements, the optical conductivity features of the irradiated interface are broadened because of the localization effects, along with a decrease of spectral weight from 4.2 to 5.4 eV. These experiments allow us to conclude that the interface ground state (metallic/insulating) at the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 can be controlled by tailoring the defect structure of the SrTiO3 with ion beam exposure. A resist-free, single-step direct patterning of a conducting LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface has been demonstrated. Patterns with a spatial resolution of 5 μm have been fabricated using a stencil mask, while nanometer scale patterns may be possible with direct focused ion beam writing.

Silicon-based photonic crystals fabricated using proton beam writing combined with electrochemical etching method

A method for fabrication of three-dimensional (3D) silicon nanostructures based on selective formation of porous silicon using ion beam irradiation of bulk p-type silicon followed by electrochemical etching is shown. It opens a route towards the fabrication of two-dimensional (2D) and 3D silicon-based photonic crystals with high flexibility and industrial compatibility. In this work, we present the fabrication of 2D photonic lattice and photonic slab structures and propose a process for the fabrication of 3D woodpile photonic crystals based on this approach. Simulated results of photonic band structures for the fabricated 2D photonic crystals show the presence of TE or TM gap in mid-infrared range.

Defect enhanced funneling of diffusion current in silicon

We report a current transport mechanism observed during electrochemical anodization of ion irradiated p-type silicon, in which a hole diffusion current is highly funneled along the gradient of modified doping profile towards the maximum ion induced defect density, dominating the total current flowing and hence the anodization behaviour. This study is characterized within the context of electrochemical anodization but relevant to other fields where any residual defect density may result in similar effects, which may adversely affect performance, such as in wafer gettering or satellite-based microelectronics. Increased photoluminescence intensity from localized buried regions of porous silicon is also shown.

Disturbance-free rapid solution exchange for magnetic tweezers single-molecule studies

Single-molecule manipulation technologies have been extensively applied to studies of the structures and interactions of DNA and proteins. An important aspect of such studies is to obtain the dynamics of interactions; however the initial binding is often difficult to obtain due to large mechanical perturbation during solution introduction. Here, we report a simple disturbance-free rapid solution exchange method for magnetic tweezers single-molecule manipulation experiments, which is achieved by tethering the molecules inside microwells (typical dimensions–diameter (D): 40–50 μm, height (H): 100 μm; H:D∼2:1). Our simulations and experiments show that the flow speed can be reduced by several orders of magnitude near the bottom of the microwells from that in the flow chamber, effectively eliminating the flow disturbance to molecules tethered in the microwells. We demonstrate a wide scope of applications of this method by measuring the force dependent DNA structural transitions in response to solution condition change, and polymerization dynamics of RecA on ssDNA/SSB-coated ssDNA/dsDNA of various tether lengths under constant forces, as well as the dynamics of vinculin binding to α-catenin at a constant force (< 5 pN) applied to the α-catenin protein.

A study of buried channel formation in oxidized porous silicon

We have studied the formation of buried, hollow channels in oxidized porous silicon produced by a process based on focused high-energy ion irradiation of low resistivity, p-type silicon. This is followed by electrochemical anodization and various oxidation stages, all of which may influence the channel size, shape and roughness. We have identified several mechanisms by which the irradiation fluence can alter the channel size and shape, and studied the dependence on anodization current density and oxidation temperature. A low anodization current density combined with high temperature oxidation results in hollow channels in oxidized porous silicon being shrunk to dimensions of about 50 nm. Highly smooth, symmetric channels are produced using viscous flow of the oxidized porous silicon during high temperature oxidation.

Nanoscale lithography of LaAlO₃/SrTiO₃ wires using silicon stencil masks.

We have developed a process to fabricate low-stress, fully crystalline silicon nanostencils, based on ion irradiation and the electrochemical anodization of p-type silicon. These nanostencils can be patterned with arbitrary feature shapes with openings hundreds of micrometers wide connected to long channels of less than 100 nm in width. These nanostencils have been used to deposit (2.5 μm- to 150 nm-wide) lines of LaAlO3 (LAO) on a SrTiO3 (STO) substrate, forming a confined electron layer at the interface arising from oxygen vacancies on the STO surface. Electrical characterization of the transport properties of the resulting LAO/STO nanowires exhibited a large electric field effect through back-gating using the STO as the dielectric, demonstrating electron confinement. Stencil lithography incorporating multiple feature sizes in a single mask shows great potential for future development of oxide electronics.

Modification of Porous Silicon Formation by Varying the End of Range of Ion Irradiation

A silicon micromachining process based on high-energy ion beam irradiation and electrochemical anodization to form porous silicon (PSi) has been used to fabricate patterned PSi and silicon microstructures, such as patterned distributed Bragg reflectors, 1 microturbines, 2 and concave silicon profiles. 3 Protons or helium ions, with energies of 250 keV to 2 MeV are focused to a beam spot of a few hundred nanometers for direct patterned irradiation on ptype silicon wafers. Irradiation causes localized increase in the resistivity arising from the point defects created along the ion trajectories. 4,5 Increased resistivity reduces the electrical hole current flowing through these regions during subsequent electrochemical anodization, 4 slowing down the PSi formation. PSi may then be easily removed with potassium hydroxide (KOH) to reveal underlying silicon microstructures. With high irradiation fluences, PSi formation ceases completely. A more recent development involves using standard ultraviolet photolithography to create patterned photoresist (PR) masks for shielding irradiation from a uniform broad ion beam. 3,6 This greatly improves irradiation in terms of irradiated area, time required and uniformity of fluence compared to using a focused ion beam. The experiments described here were performed using this method of irradiation. In addition, instead of simply stopping ions, PR with varying thicknesses were also used to selectively move the end-of-range region nearer to the silicon surface. The endof-range region was then used to fabricate silicon lines with nanosized tips as well as buried PSi channels.

A thousand-fold enhancement of photoluminescence in porous silicon using ion irradiation

A large increase in the porosity of highly doped p-type silicon is observed at the end-of-range depth of high-energy ions after subsequent electrochemical anodization. This occurs under certain conditions of irradiation geometry and fluence, owing to the dual effects of increased wafer resistivity and a locally increased current density during anodization. This results in the creation of highly porous, sub-surface zones which emit photoluminescence with an intensity of more than three orders of magnitude greater than the surrounding mesoporous silicon, comparable to that produced by microporous silicon. This provides means of selectively enhancing and patterning the photoluminescence emission from micron-sized areas of porous silicon over a wide range of intensity.