• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.454-457
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• 2019

Controlling the shape of Ag nanoparticles (NPs) is very difficult. In the present work, urchin Ag NPs with different sizes and pod length control have been synthesized successfully in high yield by the concentration of a reducing agent. Unique Ag NPs were observed by TEM and SEM. These nanocrystals exhibit tunable surface plasmon resonance properties from the visible to near-infrared regions. They were applied to surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrates using rhodamine 6G (R6G), benzenethiol (BT), and 4-amino benznethiol (4-ABT) molecules. The enhanced local field effect due to the sharp pod length, size, and surface plasmon of the urchin Ag NPs resulted in enhanced SERS properties and can serve as high-sensitivity substrates for SERS measurements.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.08a
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• pp.380-381
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• 2012

Bioinspired sea urchin-like structures were fabricated on silicon by inductively coupled plasma (ICP) etching using lens-like shape hexagonally patterned photoresist (PR) patterns and subsequent metal-assisted chemical etching (MaCE) [1]. The lens-like shape PR patterns with a diameter of 2 ${\mu}m$ were formed by conventional lithography method followed by thermal reflow process of PR patterns on a hotplate at $170^{\circ}C$ for 40 s. ICP etching process was carried out in an SF6 plasma ambient using an optimum etching conditions such as radio-frequency power of 50 W, ICP power of 25 W, SF6 flow rate of 30 sccm, process pressure of 10 mTorr, and etching time of 150 s in order to produce micron structure with tapered etch profile. 15 nm thick Ag film was evaporated on the samples using e-beam evaporator with a deposition rate of 0.05 nm/s. To form Ag nanoparticles (NPs), the samples were thermally treated (thermally dewetted) in a rapid thermal annealing system at $500^{\circ}C$ for 1 min in a nitrogen environment. The Ag thickness and thermal dewetting conditions were carefully chosen to obtain isolated Ag NPs. To fabricate needle-like nanostructures on both the micron structure (i.e., sea urchin-like structures) and flat surface of silicon, MaCE process, which is based on the strong catalytic activity of metal, was performed in a chemical etchant (HNO3: HF: H2O = 4: 1: 20) using Ag NPs at room temperature for 1 min. Finally, the residual Ag NPs were removed by immersion in a HNO3 solution. The fabricated structures after each process steps are shown in figure 1. It is well-known that the hierarchical micro- and nanostructures have efficient light harvesting properties [2-3]. Therefore, this fabrication technique for production of sea urchin-like structures is applicable to improve the performance of light harvesting devices.