Panoscopic Silicon—A Material for “All” Length Scales

Abstract

Silicon is the “veteran” semiconductor in the management of electrons. The recent quest for optoelectronic and photonic materials suggests that new architectures of silicon structured over multiple length scales may still be the optimum material for the transition from electron-based to photon-basped computers and communication systems. This Research News article is focussed on recent research accomplishments in fabrication and self-assembly methods of shaping elemental silicon over nanometer to micrometer length scales for applications in electronics, optoelectronics, and photonics.