Laser-Excited Elastic Guided Waves Reveal the Complex Mechanics of Nanoporous Silicon

Marc Thelen , Nicolas Bochud (1) , Manuel Brinker , Claire Prada (2) , Patrick Huber

1 MSME - Laboratoire Modélisation et Simulation Multi-Echelle
2 IL - Institut Langevin - Ondes et Images (UMR7587)

Nanoporosity in silicon leads to completely new functionalities of this mainstream semiconductor. A difficult to assess mechanics has however significantly limited its application in fields ranging from nanofluidics and biosensorics to drug delivery and energy storage. Here, we present a study on laser-excited elastic guided waves detected contactless and non-destructively in dry and liquid-infused single-crystalline porous silicon. These experiments reveal that the self-organized formation of 100 billions of parallel nanopores per square centimeter cross section results in an isotropic elasticity perpendicular to the pore axes and an 80% stiffness reduction in the material, despite a bulk-like and anisotropic pore-wall elasticity. Our complete assessment of the wafer-scale mechanics of nanoporous silicon provides the base for predictive applications in robust on-chip devices and evidences that recent breakthroughs in laser ultrasonics open up entirely new frontiers for in-situ, non-destructive mechanical characterisation of dry and liquid-functionalised porous materials.

Domaines: Acoustique [physics.class-ph]; Vibrations [physics.class-ph]; Mécanique des solides [physics.class-ph]; Optique / photonique

Marc Thelen, Nicolas Bochud, Manuel Brinker, Claire Prada, Patrick Huber. Laser-Excited Elastic Guided Waves Reveal the Complex Mechanics of Nanoporous Silicon. Nature Communications, 2021. ⟨hal-03082381⟩