Nanostructuring of Si substrates by a metal-assisted chemical etching and dewetting process.

In this work, we reported on the development of lithography-free technology for the fabrication of nanopatterned Si substrates. The combination of two phenomena, the solid-state dewetting process and metal-assisted wet chemical etching, allowed for fabrication of Si nanocolumns on large areas in a relatively simple way. The process of dewetting the thin metal layer enabled formation of nickel nanoislands, which were used as a shadow mask in the deposition of a catalytic metal pattern.