Ordered arrays of -oriented silicon nanorods by CMOS-compatible block copolymer lithography

Dense, ordered arrays of <100>-oriented Si nanorods with uniform aspect ratios up to 5:1 and a uniform diameter of 15 nm were fabricated by block copolymer lithography based on the inverse of the traditional cylindrical hole strategy and reactive ion etching. The reported approach combines control over diameter, orientation, and position of the nanorods and compatibility with complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology because no nonvolatile metals generating deep levels in silicon, such as gold or iron, are involved. The Si nanorod arrays exhibit the same degree of order as the block copolymer templates.