Controlling the Doping Depth in Silicon Micropillars

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Amal Kabalan's paper presented for review, contains preliminary research on controlling the doping depth in silicon micropillars. The author shows that the results he received, as he writes in conclusion, “ demonstrated that silicon oxide which can be used as a passivating layer can also be used to achieve a shallow doping depth in silicon wafers, and that the doping profile can be varied by doping through a silicon oxide layer”. The work is written quite carefully, although in References not all links are given precisely. For example:

item 14 References (line 174) is: Applied Physics Letters 2012, 101, 1-5, and should be: Applied Physics Letters 2012, 101, 143904;

item 15 References (line 177) is: Nature Photonics 2013, 7, 1-5;  and should be: Nature Photonics 2013, 7, 306-310;

item 17 References (line 183) is: nature nanotechnology; and should be: Nature Nanotechnology 2009, 4, 315-319.

Author Response

Dear reviewer, 

The reference items 14, 15 and 17 has been adjusted accordingly. Thank you for your time. 

Best,

Amal

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

The author should correct the Fig. 4, as filled circles are mentioned and there are no filled circles neither in the figure, nor in the legend.

Can the author indicate to which doping level correspond the phosphor atomic content of 8 %?

In fig.1. The author indicate the shape of the real and the desired radial p-n junction. The result indicate that the doping level can be controlled. Can the author draw how does the shape of the p-n junction change with and without the SiO layer?

A good scheme is worth more than a thousand words - it would be nice to draw a scheme of bands and explain what is written on the page 3, lines 91-101.

Author Response

Dear reviewer, 

Please find below a response to your comments. 

The author should correct the Fig. 4, as filled circles are mentioned and there are no filled circles neither in the figure, nor in the legend.

The caption of figure 4 has been corrected.

Can the author indicate to which doping level correspond the phosphor atomic content of 8 %?

The number is indicated on line 80 of the new version of the paper

In fig.1. The author indicate the shape of the real and the desired radial p-n junction. The result indicate that the doping level can be controlled. Can the author draw how does the shape of the p-n junction change with and without the SiO layer?

An image (c) has been added to figure 1

A good scheme is worth more than a thousand words - it would be nice to draw a scheme of bands and explain what is written on the page 3, lines 91-101.

A scheme labeled figure 6 has been added

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 3 Report

Manuscript titled "Controlling the doping depth in silicon micropillars" proposed by Amal Kabalan has been reviewed. The manuscript is well organized, research work might be interesting for readers of this journal, and conclusions are well supported by the results obtained. No further comments from this reviewer. Just maybe as a minor suggestion, the title of the manuscript might be updated to provide further insights into the content. 

Author Response

thank you for your feedback.

Amal