Bottom-up fabrication of periodic nanostructure arrays based on reverse epitaxy


Bottom-up fabrication of periodic nanostructure arrays based on reverse epitaxy

Erb, D.; Ou, X.; Dimakis, E.; Hübner, R.; Lenz, K.; Schlage, K.; Röhlsberger, R.; Lindner, J.; Facsko, S.

Potential technological applications of periodic nanostructure arrays range from photovoltaics augmented by light trapping [1] to high-sensitivity biomolecule detection using plasmonic signal enhancement [2] and high-speed low-energy information technology based on magnonic crystals [3]. Industrial-scale fabrication of such devices requires nanopatterning processes which are cost-effective, scalable, and highly reproducible. These demands can be met by a versatile bottom-up approach based on ion irradiation of semiconductor surfaces and well-established thin film deposition techniques.
Reverse epitaxy, i.e. the non-equilibrium self-assembly of vacancies and ad-atoms under ion irradiation, leads to nanoscale surface patterning with well-defined lateral periodicity on semiconductor substrates [4]. The GaAs(001) and InAs(001) surfaces exhibit highly regular faceting and therefore lend themselves to transferring this pattern regularity to other materials. The nanofaceted surfaces with a sawtooth profile can for instance be employed as substrates for molecular beam epitaxy under grazing incidence, producing periodic arrays of nanowires, periodically corrugated thin films, or combinations thereof by geometrical shading. They can also induce long-range chemical ordering in diblock copolymer thin films, which may then serve as highly ordered chemical templates for metal nanostructure growth in a variety of pattern morphologies [5]. Furthermore, separated semiconductor nanostructures can be fabricated by introducing an interlayer before ion irradiation.

In this contribution, we outline the reverse epitaxy mechanism and present examples of how it can be employed in the fabrication of large-area nanostructure arrays. We hope to stimulate discussion of further applications by emphasizing the simplicity and versatility of this bottom-up approach.

[1] H.A. Atwater and A. Polman, Nature Materials 9 (2010); [2] J. Vogt et al., Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 17 (2015); [3] D. Grundler, Nature Physics 11 (2015); [4] X. Ou et al., Nanoscale 7 (2015); [5] D. Erb et al., Science Advances 1 (2015)

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