Presentation Information
[1C18]Nanoscale observation of Ag nanowire at the step edges of atomically flat Si(111) surface by scanning probe microscopy
*Az Zahrah Fitriana Syafira1, Ayumi Takahashi1, Naoko Momono1, Kouji Inagaki1, Kenta Arima1 (1. Graduate School of Engineering, The University of Osaka)
We propose a wet-process method using Ag nanowires as “scissors” to etch atomic-thick Si layers from tilted SOI wafers. During Ag deposition at Si(111) surface, the key issues are Ag particle formation and limited resolution in conventional AFM that hinders the growth of thin and uniform Ag nanowire. Our result shows that lowering solution pH from 8 to 5 decreases the number of Ag particles. By STM/nc-AFM combined setup, thin Ag nanowires of 0.2-0.3 nm height are observed along the step edges of Si(111) surface using nc-AFM mode. STM mode is unable to detect these nanowires, likely because the nanowires are too thin. However, detection of small pits along the edges indicates that the nanowires are conductive species that create oxidized regions around the nucleation sites. In the future, we aim to grow a thicker nanowire by modifying the wet-process sequence.