Physics Commons^™

A Study Of Anisotropic Chemical Etching On Crystalline Silicon, Gregory D. Erickson

Physics Capstone Projects

It is known that chemical reaction rates can be different on different crystal planes. KOH is a common etchant for Si and the reaction rate on {100} planes is much faster than the {111} planes. Therefore a square etch window on a (100) Si surface can become an inverse pyramid at some point after KOH etch. However, it is not clear how a 3-­‐dimensional cubic crystal will evolve by KOH etching. In this study we use a dicing saw to create arrays of rectangular crystal pillars of different dimensions in two different orientations followed by 6M KOH etch at 50º …