Ordered array of self-assembled SiC nanocrystals fabricated by selective oxide desorption and nanosphere lithography.

We have developed a novel technique based on the selective desorption of an oxide film in order to grow ordered arrays of silicon carbide nanocrystals on a silicon surface. These nanocrystals form as a byproduct of void nucleation in the oxide during the high-temperature vacuum annealing of silicon, a process which normally produces a random distribution of nanocrystals across the silicon surface after its oxide layer has been fully desorbed. By the pre-deposition of a thin layer of excess silicon on the oxide surface through a patterned lithography mask, site-specific nucleation of voids in the silicon oxide can instead be achieved during the annealing step, leading to the growth of silicon carbide nanocrystals in regular patterns over the silicon surface.