Metal nanostructures fabricated by selective metal nanoscale etch method

A new method for fabricating metal nanostructures, called ‘the selective metal nanoscale etch method (SMNEM)’, was developed. The SMNEM consists of a galvanic displacement and selective etching process. The process was found to be simple and produced a uniform surface with a self-controlled etch rate of 32.2 ± 2.1 nm per cycle at a temperature and immersion time of 75°C and 3 min, respectively. Since it is a wet chemical process, SMNEM provides high throughput and low temperature etching which is compatible with conventional semiconductor processes. Various metal nanostructures, such as nanostairs, nanogratings, and nanowires were produced using SMNEM.