Nanoworld 'Snow Blowers' Carve Straight Channels in Semiconductor Surfaces

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The result is a series of crystalline groves. The dimensions of the grooves correspond to the size of droplet, which can be controlled.

In effect, the droplet is the chemical equivalent of the auger on a snow blower that, instead of snow, burrows through the top portion of the semiconductor and ejects evaporated bits, Nikoobakht explains.

The team observed the same phenomena in gallium phosphide and indium arsenide, two more examples of semiconductors formed by combining elements from the third and fifth columns of the periodic table. Compound semiconductors in this class are used to make LEDs, and for communications, high-speed electronics and many other applications. Nikoobakht believes that, with adjustments, the etching process might also work for creating patterns of channels on silicon and other materials.

Controllable, fast and flexible, the “bottom up” channel-fabrication process shows promise for use on industrial scales, the researchers suggest. In their article, the teams describe how they used the process to etch patterns of hollow channels like those used to direct the flow of liquids, such as a blood sample, in a microfluidic device, or lab on a chip.

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