We report on the epitaxial growth of crystalline silicon films on (100) oriented crystalline silicon substrates by standard plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition at 175 °C. Such unexpected epitaxial growth is discussed in the context of deposition processes of silicon thin films, based on silicon radicals and nanocrystals. Our results are supported by previous studies on plasma synthesis of...

Silicon plays an important role in providing tolerance to various abiotic stresses and augmenting plant resistance against diseases. However, there is a paucity of reports about the effect of silicon on bacterial and viral pathogens of plants. In general, the effect of silicon on plant resistance against bacterial diseases is considered to be due to either physical defense or increased biochemi...

A new method of fabricating high aspect ratio nanostructures in silicon without the use of sub-micron lithographic technique is reported. The proposed method comprises two important steps including the use of CMOS spacer technique to form silicon nitride nanostructure masking followed by deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) of the silicon substrate to form the final silicon nanostructures. Silicon ...

A brief survey is given of the thermochemistry of a number of silicon-containing substances that are of interest in modern technology. Among those discussed are: silicalite (SiO2), silicon disulfide (SiS2), the crystalline and vitreous forms of silicon diselenide (SiSen), silicon sesquitelluride (Si2Te3), silicon nitride (Si3N4), and vanadium disilicide (VSi2).

Porous silicon samples were prepared by electrochemical etching method for different etching times. The structural properties of porous silicon (PS) samples were determined from the Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) measurements. The surface mean root square roughness (σ rms) changes as function of porosity were studied, and the influence of etching time on porosity and roughness was studied too. U...

The surface and interfacial analysis of silicon oxide film on silicon substrate is particularly crucial in the nano-electronic devices. For this purpose, series of experiments have been demonstrated to grow oxide film on Si (111) substrate. Then these films have been used to study the structure of the film by using X-ray photo emission spectroscopy (XPS) technique. The obtained results indicate...

We review recent breakthroughs in silicon photonics technology and components and describe progress in silicon photonic integrated circuits. Heterogeneous silicon photonics has recently demonstrated performance that significantly outperforms native III-V components. The impact active silicon photonic integrated circuits could have on interconnects, telecommunications, sensors and silicon electr...

The performance of silicon for water oxidation and hydrogen production can be improved by exploiting the antireflective properties of nanostructured silicon substrates. In this work, silicon nanowires were fabricated by metal-assisted electroless etching of silicon. An enhanced photocurrent density of -17 mA/cm² was observed for the silicon nanowires coated with an iron sulphur carbonyl catalys...

A hybrid approach to solar cells is demonstrated in which a silicon p-n junction, used in conventional silicon-based photovoltaics, is replaced by a room-temperature fabricated silicon/organic heterojunction. The unique advantage of silicon/organic heterojunction is that it exploits the cost advantage of organic semiconductors and the performance advantages of silicon to enable potentially low-...