Process for fabricating nanowire arrays

1. A process for etching a silicon-containing substrate to form structures, comprising the steps of:

(a) depositing nanoparticles on the surface of a silicon-containing substrate,

(b) depositing metal on top of the nanoparticles and silicon in such a way that the metal is present and touches silicon where etching is desired and is blocked from touching silicon or not present elsewhere, and

(c) contacting the metallized substrate with an etchant aqueous solution comprising about 2 to about 49 weight percent HF and an oxidizing agent,

wherein the process results in nanowire arrays in which the average diameter of the nanowires is less than about 125 nm.

2. A process as described in claim 1 , wherein the oxidizing agent is oxygen gas bubbled through the etchant aqueous solution.

3. A process as described in claim 1 , wherein the metal deposited and patterned in step (b) is silver.

4. A process as described in claim 3 , wherein the silver is less than about 50 nm thick.

5. A process as described in claim 1 , wherein the result of steps (a)-(c) is a nanowire array where the average nanowire diameter is less than about 100 nm.

6. A process as described in claim 5 , wherein the result of steps (a)-(c) is a nanowire array where the nanowire diameter is less than about 50 nm.

7. A process as described in claim 1 , wherein the result of steps (a)-(c) is a tapered nanowire array such that the bases of the nanowires are larger than the tips.

8. A process as described in claim 1 , wherein the nanoparticles act as a barrier between the metal and the silicon-containing substrate to prevent the metal from touching the silicon in certain areas of the substrate.

9. A process as described in claim 1 , wherein the nanoparticles are used to remove the metal where an etch is not desired and expose the silicon surface.

10. A process as described in claim 1 , wherein the silicon-containing substrate prior to deposition of the metal is a bulk silicon wafer.

11. A process as described in claim 1 , wherein the silicon-containing substrate prior to deposition of the metal is a silicon-on-insulator wafer.

12. A process as described in claim 1 , wherein the silicon-containing substrate prior to deposition of the metal comprises polysilicon or microcrystalline silicon.

13. A process as described in claim 1 , wherein the silicon-containing substrate prior to deposition of the metal comprises epitaxially grown silicon.

14. A process as described in claim 1 , wherein the silicon-containing substrate prior to deposition of the metal comprises germanium on silicon or germanium on oxide on silicon.

15. A process as described in claim 1 , wherein the result of steps (a)-(c) is further processed to produce an optoelectronic device.

16. A process as described in claim 15 , wherein the optoelectronic device is a light emitting diode.

17. A process as described in claim 1 , wherein the result of steps (a)-(c) is further processed to produce photonic elements and/or waveguides.

18. A process as described in claim 1 , wherein the result of steps (a)-(c) is further processed to produce a photovoltaic or solar cell device.

19. A process as described in claim 1 , wherein the pattern created by steps (a)-(c) mixes electronic states in the patterned and etched silicon-containing substrate.

20. A process as described in claim 1 , wherein the silicon may be chosen to have any desired crystallographic orientation.

21. A process as described in claim 1 , further comprising the step of employing the pattern created by steps (a)-(c) as a lithium absorbing component of a lithium ion battery.

22. A process as described in claim 1 , wherein the metal deposited in step (b) is continuous such that there are no breaks or cracks that would cause a part of the film to become separated from the remainder.