Electrochemical Deposition of Conformal and Functional Layers on High Aspect Ratio Silicon Micro/Nanowires

Development of new synthetic methods for the modification of nanostructures has accelerated materials design advances to furnish complex architectures. Structures based on one-dimensional (1D) silicon (Si) structures synthesized using top-down and bottom-up methods are especially prominent for diverse applications in chemistry, physics, and medicine. Yet further elaboration of these structures with distinct metal-based and polymeric materials, which could open up new opportunities, has been difficult. We present a general electrochemical method for the deposition of conformal layers of various materials onto high aspect ratio Si micro- and nanowire arrays. The electrochemical deposition of a library of coaxial layers comprising metals, metal oxides, and organic/inorganic semiconductors demonstrate the materials generality of the synthesis technique. Depositions may be performed on wire arrays with varying diameter (70 nm to 4 μm), pitch (5 μ to 15 μ), aspect ratio (4:1 to 75:1), shape (cylindrical, conical, hourglass), resistivity (0.001-0.01 to 1-10 ohm/cm2), and substrate orientation. Anisotropic physical etching of wires with one or more coaxial shells yields 1D structures with exposed tips that can be further site-specifically modified by an electrochemical deposition approach. The electrochemical deposition methodology described herein features a wafer-scale synthesis platform for the preparation of multifunctional nanoscale devices based on a 1D Si substrate.