Date of Award

8-28-2013

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Applied Science

First Advisor

Tansel Karabacak

Abstract

Nanotechnology is a rapidly expanding interdisciplinary field offering novel devices for broad range of applications. Quantum effects and surface to volume ratio of nanostructures are strongly size dependent, and redefine material properties at nanoscale. Silicon is one of the most promising materials for next generation nanostructured transistors, photonics devices, Li-ion batteries, photovoltaic solar cells, and thermoelectric energy generators. Since electrical, optical, and mechanical properties of nanostructures strongly depend on their shape, size, periodicity, and crystal structure, it is crucial to control these parameters in order to optimize device performance for targeted applications. This dissertation is intended to develop a low-cost, low-temperature, high-throughput, and large-area nanowire fabrication method that can produce well-ordered arrays of hierarchical single-crystal silicon nanowires at large scale by using nanosphere lithography and metal-assisted chemical etching. Nanowire morphology was characterized by using scanning electron microscope and optical properties of nanowire arrays were modeled with the help of finite-difference-time domain method. These novel multi-diameter silicon nanowire arrays have the potential applications in many fields including but not limited to next generation nanowire solar cells to field ionization gas sensors.

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