Silicon nanowires obtained by metal-assisted chemical etching for photonic applications

The arising of new physical phenomena at the nanoscale promoted for the scientific community the emerging of silicon nanostructures for future challenging technologies involving innovative applications in light management and photonics. Silicon nanowires (Si NWs) are already considered strategic systems for very different applications such as microelectronics, energy, and sensors. Nonetheless, the use of Si NWs for photonic applications is very limited. The reason for these poor results in the photonic field is related to the fabrication methods that generally are used to obtain silicon nanowires. One of the most promising approaches to realize Si NWs with a low-cost and Si technology compatibility is metal-assisted chemical etching. In this paper, we report a review of silicon nanowires realized by metal chemical etching for photonic applications focusing our attention on the realization of light-emitting Si NWs.