FABRICATION OF THIN SILICON WIRES BY ANISOTROPIC WET ETCHING OF SOI STRUCTURES

A fabrication method of thin single-crystalline silicon wires on SiO2 is reported. The wires are fabricated by anisotropic wet etching of (110) and (100) SOI wafers. We obtained a thin (110) SOI wire of 0.2-mu-m width and 0.2-mu-m height with a rectangular cross section. Since the (110) SOI wires are enclosed by a pair of ultraflat {111} side walls parallel to each other, this method has the potential to form ultranarrow wires by careful control of the etching conditions.