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Nanopyramids Etched on Silicon by Wenqi Duan
Duan, Wenqi
Graduate Student
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Silicon solar cells and biosensors
2015-08-26
2020 submissions
Central Microscopy Research Facility, Iowa City, IA
A cross section image taken of nanotextured silicon using a scanning electron microscope in the Central Microscopy Research Facility at the University of Iowa. Pyramids that are only a couple hundred nanometers high are etched down into the silicon substrate using a wet chemical etching process. This process is quick, scalable, and much cheaper than other etching methods such as dry etching or patterning using lithography. Since this is a randomized process, the pyramids all vary in size and height. In a traditionally planar flat surface silicon, light will hit the surface once, some photons will be absorbed, and the rest of the light is wasted as it bounces off surface. By texturing the surface, light that bounces off the side of one of the pyramids will have a chance to strike another pyramid, where more light will be absorbed.
Honorable Mention in the 2020 Graduate Student Category
silicon etching pyramids
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University of Iowa. Lichtenberger Engineering Library Virgil M. Hancher Auditorium University of Iowa. College of Engineering. NEXUS Program
Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 (CC BY-NC 2.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/
Contact Kari Kozak in the Litchenberger Engineering Library at the University of Iowa: http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/eng/contact/
Nanopyramids Etched on Silicon (Horizontal).jpg
Still Image
scientific illustrations (images)
