Silicon nanowires fabricated by means of an underetching technique

Silicon wires with nanometric dimensions have been fabricated on SIMOX wafers by means of e-beam lithography and wet chemical etchings, exploiting the underetching properties of the KOH etchant. The cross section of the resistors has a trapezoidal shape; a minimum top width of 40 nm has been obtained. The whole process required only two writing steps. I-V characteristics were measured at room temperature as a function of the backgate voltage.