Laterally disposed nanostructures of silicon on an insulating substrate
First Claim
1. An apparatus comprising:
- a transparent substrate; and
a silicon structure disposed on said transparent substrate, said silicon structure having a height lying in the range of 1-100 nanometers;
a width lying in the range of 1-100 nanometers; and
a length at least as long as the greater of the height and width of said silicon structure, said silicon structure disposed so that an area created by its length and width lies adjacent said transparent substrate.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A single crystal silicon film nanostructure capable of optical emission is laterally disposed on an insulating transparent substrate of sapphire. By laterally disposing the nanostructure, adequate support for the structure is provided, and the option of fabricating efficient electrical contact structures to the nanostructure is made possible. The method of the invention begins with the deposition of ultrathin layers of silicon on the substrate. A Solid Phase Epitaxy improvement process is then used to remove crystalline defects formed during the deposition. The silicon is then annealed and thinned using thermal oxidation steps to reduce its thickness to be on the order of five nanometers in height. The width and length of the nanostructure are defined by lithography. The nanometer dimensioned silicon is then spin-coated with a resist with width and length definition in the resist being performed by way of electron beam exposure. The photoresist is developed and the e-beam written pattern is transferred to the silicon by etching. Oxidations and etchings may subsequently be employed to further thin the width of the nanostructure to be on the order of two to three nanometers. The single crystal, silicon-based nanostructures can be made an integral part of silicon-based photo, electroluminescent, and quantum-effect devices all of which are compatible with current silicon manufacturing techniques and with other silicon-based microelectronics.
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Citations
31 Claims
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1. An apparatus comprising:
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a transparent substrate; and a silicon structure disposed on said transparent substrate, said silicon structure having a height lying in the range of 1-100 nanometers;
a width lying in the range of 1-100 nanometers; and
a length at least as long as the greater of the height and width of said silicon structure, said silicon structure disposed so that an area created by its length and width lies adjacent said transparent substrate. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. An apparatus comprising:
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a transparent insulating sapphire substrate having a 1102 crystal plane; and an optically emissive single crystal silicon structure disposed on said 1102 crystal plane of said transparent substrate, said silicon structure having a height lying in the range of 1-100 nanometers;
a width lying in the range of 1-100 nanometers; and
a length at least as long as the greater of the height and width of said silicon structure, said silicon structure disposed so that an area created by its length and width lies adjacent said transparent substrate. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17)
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18. An apparatus comprising:
a silicon structure disposed on a transparent substrate, said silicon structure having a portion thereof of a dimension that permits said portion to exhibit a quantum effect, in which said portion has a surface in contact with said transparent substrate and in which said portion extends above said transparent substrate a distance no greater than any dimension of said surface that is in contact with said transparent substrate. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
Specification