TY - EJOU AU - Eslamian, Morteza AU - Saghir, M. Ziad TI - Thermodiffusion Applications in MEMS, NEMS and Solar Cell Fabrication by Thermal Metal Doping of Semiconductors T2 - Fluid Dynamics \& Materials Processing PY - 2012 VL - 8 IS - 4 SN - 1555-2578 AB - In this paper recent advances pertinent to the applications of thermodiffusion or thermomigration in the fabrication of micro and nano metal-doped semiconductor-based patterns and devices are reviewed and discussed. In thermomigration, a spot, line, or layer of a p-type dopant, such as aluminum, which is deposited on a semiconductor surface, penetrates into the semiconductor body due to the presence of a temperature gradient applied across the wafer body. The trails of p-doped regions within an n-type semiconductor, in the form of columns or walls, may be used for several applications, such as the isolation of a part of a semiconductor device, the formation of conductive channels within a silicon block, the fabrication of three-dimensional arrays for biological applications, manufacturing of solar cells, manipulation of material properties, and so on. KW - Thermomigration KW - Thermodiffusion KW - Soret effect KW - Semiconductor devices KW - Micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) KW - Nano-electro-mechanical systems (NEMS) KW - Solar cells KW - P-n junctions KW - Three-dimensional arrays KW - Opto-electronic sensors DO - 10.3970/fdmp.2012.008.353