Disclosure of Invention
In view of the above, the main objective of the present invention is to provide a horizontal nanochannel array, a micro-nanofluidic chip and a manufacturing method thereof, so as to at least partially solve at least one of the above-mentioned technical problems.
In order to achieve the purpose, the scheme of the invention is as follows:
as an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for fabricating a horizontal nanochannel array, comprising the steps of:
step 1: forming a patterned mask layer on a substrate;
step 2: etching the substrate by taking the patterned mask layer as a mask to form a plurality of scallop-shaped columns;
and step 3: forming a horizontal nanowire array on the scallop-shaped column by self-limiting oxidation;
and 4, step 4: filling the etched area of the substrate;
and 5: and releasing the horizontal nano-wire array by adopting wet etching to form a horizontal nano-channel array.
As another aspect of the present invention, there is also provided a horizontal nanochannel array produced by the method for producing a horizontal nanochannel array as described above.
As a further aspect of the present invention, there is also provided a micro-nanofluidic chip comprising the horizontal nanochannel array as described above.
Based on the technical scheme, compared with the prior art, the invention has at least one or one part of the following beneficial effects:
the method adopts a conventional silicon-based material as a substrate, scalloped columns are formed by etching, a horizontal nano-wire array is formed by self-limiting oxidation, and a horizontal nano-channel array is formed by wet corrosion release; in summary, the invention provides a method for manufacturing a silicon-based horizontal nano-channel array, which has simple process, is compatible with integrated circuit process and is suitable for batch production;
(1) the invention adopts a cycle etching method of anisotropic etching-oxidation-isotropic etching or Bosch process to form one or more scallop columns, and then controls the minimum size and precision by a self-limiting oxidation mode to form a horizontal nanowire array without completely depending on the photoetching technology;
(2) the patterned mask layer can be formed by adopting film growth and electron beam patterning or by adopting a side wall transfer mode, and the side wall transfer mode is favorable for realizing the small-size patterned mask layer;
(3) the invention adopts the double-layer structure of the silicon oxide layer and the silicon nitride layer as the mask, which is beneficial to ensuring the circular shape of the etched and self-limited oxidized nanowire.
Detailed Description
The invention provides a silicon-based nano-channel technology which is simple in process, compatible with an integrated circuit process and suitable for batch production. The invention adopts a conventional silicon substrate, manufactures silicon nanowires through film growth and common photoetching (or electron beams) and special etching technology, and then releases the silicon nanowires to form one or more horizontal nano-channel arrays.
In order that the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent, the present invention will be further described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings in conjunction with the following specific embodiments.
Example 1
In a first exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a method for fabricating a horizontal nanochannel array is provided, as shown in fig. 1, comprising the steps of:
step 1: forming a patterned mask layer 2 on a substrate 1;
step 2: etching the substrate 1 by taking the patterned mask layer 2 as a mask to form a plurality of scallop-shaped columns 3;
and step 3: forming a horizontal nanowire array 4 on the scallop-shaped column 3 by self-limiting oxidation;
and 4, step 4: filling the etched area of the substrate 1;
and 5: and (3) releasing the horizontal nano-wire array 4 by adopting wet etching to form a horizontal nano-channel array 5.
In the embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 3, step 1 specifically includes the following sub-steps:
substep 111: forming a mask layer on a substrate 1;
more specifically, the mask layer includes a silicon oxide layer 21 and a silicon nitride layer 22 from bottom to top, the silicon oxide layer 21 may be grown by a chemical vapor deposition method or a thermal oxidation method, and the silicon nitride layer 22 may be grown by a chemical vapor deposition method.
Substep 112: forming a pattern on the mask layer by adopting electron beam lithography;
in other embodiments of the present invention, the mask layer is not limited thereto, and the mask layer may be the silicon nitride layer 22 alone, but when only the silicon nitride layer 22 is used as the mask, the first nanowire after self-limiting oxidation is triangular, and when the mask layer with a double-layer structure is used as the mask, the nanowire is more favorable to form a circular shape.
In the embodiment of the invention, in the step 2, the specific steps of etching the substrate 1 to form the plurality of scalloped pillars 3 are to repeatedly and alternately perform anisotropic etching, oxidation and isotropic etching on the substrate 1 to form the plurality of scalloped pillars 3 as shown in fig. 5;
in the embodiment of the invention, the single-period anisotropic etching, oxidation and isotropic etching specifically comprises the following sub-steps:
substep 211: removing an oxide layer on the surface of the substrate 1;
substep 212: forming a vertical portion 31 on the substrate 1 by anisotropic etching;
substep 213: oxidizing the surface of the vertical portion 31 to form a protective layer;
substep 214: removing the protective layer on the surface of the substrate 1;
substep 215: forming an inner concave portion 32 on the substrate 1 by isotropic etching;
substep 216: oxidizing the surface of the inner recess 32;
the anisotropic etching specifically comprises the following steps: the upper radio frequency power is 500W-5000W, and the lower radio frequency power is 10W-200W; etching by adopting fluorine-based gas; the etching time is 1-100 s;
more specifically, the fluorine-based gas may be CF4、CHF3Or SF6Preferably SF6A gas;
the isotropic etching specifically comprises the following steps: only starting an upper radio frequency source, wherein the upper radio frequency power is 500-5000W; etching by adopting fluorine-based gas; the etching time is 1 s-100 s; fluorine radicalThe gas may be CF4、CHF3Or SF6Preferably SF6A gas;
wherein, the oxidation is specifically as follows: only starting an upper radio frequency source, wherein the upper radio frequency power is 500-5000W; by the use of O2Oxidizing by using fluorine-based gas; the oxidation time is 1 s-100 s; the fluorine-based gas may be CF4、CHF3Or SF6Preferably SF6A gas.
In an embodiment of the present invention, the anisotropic etching-oxidation-isotropic etching process is performed cyclically, the number of cycles being related to the number of nanowires formed. In example 1 of the present invention, the number of cycles of anisotropic etch-oxidation-isotropic etch is three.
In the embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 6 and 7, the scallop-shaped pillar shape and the size rule obtained by the method for manufacturing the horizontal nano-channel array of the present invention are controllable.
In the embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 8, in step 3, the self-limiting oxidation means that the oxidation stops automatically when the oxidation is completed to a certain degree, so as to form the nanowire structure wrapped by the oxide layer.
Wherein, the self-limiting oxidation adopts high-temperature furnace tube oxidation or rapid thermal annealing oxidation;
wherein the self-limiting oxidation temperature is 800-1100 ℃, and the time is 10 min-5 h.
Wherein the cross-sectional shape of the single horizontal nanowire is circular or elliptical.
In the embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 9, the nanowire array obtained by the method for manufacturing a horizontal nanochannel array of the present invention has controllable nanowire morphology and size rules.
In the embodiment of the invention, in step 4, the etched area of the substrate 1 is filled by adopting a chemical vapor deposition method, and then the surface is mechanically flattened;
the fill dielectric comprises silicon oxide or silicon nitride, preferably silicon oxide.
In an embodiment of the invention, the silicon oxide is filled, and the substrate 1 is filled with HARP (high Aspect Ratio Process)The grooves have good HARP filling capacity, and mainly use large flow of tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) and O3Carrying out thermochemical reaction to form; chemical mechanical planarization is then used to the surface of the mask layer, resulting in the filled sample shown in fig. 10.
In the embodiment of the invention, in step 5, the horizontal nanowire array 4 is released by wet etching to form the horizontal nanochannel array 5 as shown in fig. 2;
in the step 5, the etching solution adopted by the wet etching comprises tetramethyl ammonium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide; the material of the substrate 1 includes monocrystalline silicon, silicon carbide, silicon germanium or glass silicon.
Thus, a method for fabricating a horizontal nanochannel array according to the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention has been described.
Example 2
In a second exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a method for fabricating a horizontal nanochannel array is provided, wherein this embodiment differs from embodiment 1 in that: in the step 2, the substrate 1 is etched to form a plurality of scalloped columns 3, and the substrate 1 is etched to form a plurality of scalloped columns 3 by adopting a bosch process;
wherein the Boshi process specifically adopts C4F8And SF6The gas repeatedly and alternately deposits and etches the substrate 1 to form a plurality of scallop-shaped columns 3;
wherein the number of etching cycles is the same as the number of nanowires in the horizontal nanowire array 4.
Thus, a method for fabricating a horizontal nanochannel array according to a second exemplary embodiment of the present invention is described.
Example 3
In a third exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a method for fabricating a horizontal nanochannel array is provided, wherein this embodiment differs from embodiment 1 in that: as shown in fig. 4, step 1 includes the following sub-steps:
substep 121: forming a silicon oxide layer 21 and a silicon layer 23 in this order on the substrate 1;
substep 122: performing anisotropic etching on the silicon layer 23 to form a silicon step;
substep 123: forming a silicon nitride layer 22 on the silicon oxide layer 21 having the silicon step;
substep 124: forming a silicon nitride side wall by adopting self-aligned etching;
substep 125: removing the silicon steps and the exposed silicon oxide layer 21 in sequence by adopting wet etching to form a patterned mask layer 2;
wherein, the silicon layer 23 is a polysilicon layer or an amorphous silicon layer;
in the embodiment of the invention, the silicon step is in a smooth and steep shape by anisotropic etching, and then the silicon nitride layer 22 is deposited, and the thickness of the silicon nitride layer 22 determines the size of the subsequent scallop-shaped column 3. The mask layer is manufactured in a side wall transfer mode, so that the horizontal nanowire array can be made denser under the condition of not depending on photoetching.
More specifically, the structure of the patterned mask layer 2 includes a plurality of arrayed cuboids, and the width of a single cuboid is 10nm to 500 nm.
Thus, a method for fabricating a horizontal nanochannel array according to a third exemplary embodiment of the present invention is described.
Example 4
In a fourth exemplary embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 2, there is provided a horizontal nanochannel array fabricated by the method of fabricating a horizontal nanochannel array as described above.
In an embodiment of the present invention, the structure of the horizontal nanochannel array of the present invention is specifically that its channels extend in the horizontal direction, its cross-section is circular or elliptical, and a plurality of horizontal nanochannels are arrayed in the vertical direction to form one group, and include 1 group or more groups in the horizontal direction, which can be adjusted according to the actual situation.
To this end, a horizontal nanochannel array according to a fourth exemplary embodiment of the present invention has been described.
Example 5
In a fifth exemplary embodiment of the invention, a micro nanofluidic chip is provided, comprising a horizontal nanochannel array 5 as described above. More specifically, the micro-nanofluidic chip with the horizontal nanochannel array 5 can be applied to aspects of fluid manipulation, biosensing, protein detection, DNA sequencing and the like, and in addition, the horizontal nanochannel array 5 can also be applied to a cell screener.
So far, the introduction of the micro-nanofluidic chip according to the fifth exemplary embodiment of the present invention is completed.
The above-mentioned embodiments are intended to illustrate the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention in further detail, and it should be understood that the above-mentioned embodiments are only exemplary embodiments of the present invention and are not intended to limit the present invention, and any modifications, equivalents, improvements and the like made within the spirit and principle of the present invention should be included in the protection scope of the present invention.