Fabrication of silicon nanopores with tunable shapes and sizes

Silicon nanopores were successfully fabricated by wet anisotropic etching method. The minimum feature sizes of square and rectangular nanopores were 33 nm and 6 nm, respectively. To reduce the sizes of larger pores prepared by wet etching method, e-beam induced deposition (EBID) of hydrocarbon compounds was used to shrink as well as modify the shape of the nanopores. Hydrocarbon compounds are common contaminants existing in the scanning electron microscope (SEM) chamber, and are easily deposited on the sample surface under e-beam irradiation. By using this strategy, nanopores with tunable shapes and sizes were controllably obtained with a visual feedback.