The role of supercritical CO2 in the drying of porous silicon

The study of light emission from porous silicon has attracted great interest since the first observation of its photoluminescence at room temperature (1). Recently, particular interest is devoted to supercritical fluid CO2 (2) applications on the drying of this semiconductor. This fluid is inotoxic, non- flammable, unreactive under most conditions, leaves no liquid waste. It has a potential to ameliorate environmental safety and health impact and it enables innovative processing technologies and material protection (3). This talk reviews the mechanism of supercritical drying of porous silicon and the role of this fluid in this process.