Site-selective chemical etching of silicon using patterned silver catalyst

Si convex arrays and Si hole arrays with ordered periodicities were fabricated by the site-selective chemical etching of a Si substrate using patterned Ag nanoparticles as a catalyst. Ag particles were deposited selectively on the Si substrate by a combination of colloidal crystal templating, hydrophobic treatment and subsequent electroless plating. The obtained Ag patterns were of two different types: network-like honeycomb and isolated-island microarrays. The transfer of ordered patterns fabricated by Ag plating onto the Si substrate could be achieved by the selective chemical etching of a Ag-coated Si area using Ag particles as the etching catalyst. On the basis of this process, it is possible to fabricate negative and positive patterns by changing the arrangement of deposited Ag patterns.