Abstract
Metal-assisted chemical etching enhanced by localized surface plasmon resonance is presented. Sphere-like Au nanoparticles, developing from a pre-defined Au layer clustering on Si surface, are utilized as a catalyst for making Si nanopores by illuminating visible light as well as etching in vapor hydrofluoric (HF) acid. The etching rate is found to be correlated with the illumination spectrum and increases if the localized surface plasmon resonance mode on the Au nanoparticles is excited. A simplified model to describe the etching mechanism is introduced and verified by experimental results. Copyright © 2014 American Scientific Publishers All rights reserved.