FABRICATION OF A SILICON QUANTUM-WIRE SURROUNDED BY SILICON DIOXIDE AND ITS TRANSPORT-PROPERTIES

A novel fabrication method for ultrafine silicon wires is presented. To achieve electron physical confinement with a high potential SiO2 barrier, the SIMOX (separation by implanted oxygen) technique, electron beam lithography, anisotropic chemical etching, and thermal oxidation are used. The size of the wires is controlled by the lithography, the thickness of the top silicon layer and the thermal oxidation for narrowing the patterned silicon wire. The steplike structure in the conductance versus gate voltage curve, which remains up to higher temperatures for a smaller wire, suggests that a strong one-dimensional transport effect occurs in this silicon wire. © 1994 American Institute of Physics.