Novel method of separating macroporous arrays from p-type silicon substrate

This paper presents a novel method to fabricate separated macroporous silicon using a single step of photo-assisted electrochemical etching. The method is applied to fabricate silicon microchannel plates in 100 mm p-type silicon wafers, which can be used as electron multipliers and three-dimensional Li-ion microbatteries. Increasing the backside illumination intensity and decreasing the bias simultaneously can generate additional holes during the electrochemical etching which will create lateral etching at the pore tips. In this way the silicon microchannel can be separated from the substrate when the desired depth is reached, then it can be cut into the desired shape by using a laser cutting machine. Also, the mechanism of lateral etching is proposed. © 2012 Chinese Institute of Electronics.