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A. Backes, M. Leitgeb, A. Bittner, U. Schmid:
"Temperature Dependent Pore Formation in Metal Assisted Chemical Etching of Silicon";
ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology, 5 (2016), 12; 653 - 656.

Metal assisted chemical etching (MACE) of silicon is an easy
method for micro- and nanomachining of silicon. This is achieved
by a local coverage of the silicon surface by a noble metal layer
and subsequent etching.1 While total dissolution of silicon takes place
underneath a closed metal layer, the formation of a microporous structure
in adjacent regions has also been observed.2 The phenomenon is
most beneficially applied for the preparation of black silicon3 or for
biosensors4 where the refractive index is adjusted by the morphology
of the porous structure. For technical applications controlling the
pore size and morphology are key parameters, being not yet fully
understood.5 For this reason further investigations and new perspectives
are needed to deepen the understanding of the involved processes.
We would like to add such a perspective by following on our previous
works where we focused on the influence of substrate doping type
and concentration.6,7 It is the objective of this study to investigate the
influence of temperature on the etching performance while keeping
the focus on the metal-substrate interaction.

Metal assisted chemical etching (MACE) of silicon is an easy
method for micro- and nanomachining of silicon. This is achieved
by a local coverage of the silicon surface by a noble metal layer
and subsequent etching.1 While total dissolution of silicon takes place
underneath a closed metal layer, the formation of a microporous structure
in adjacent regions has also been observed.2 The phenomenon is
most beneficially applied for the preparation of black silicon3 or for
biosensors4 where the refractive index is adjusted by the morphology
of the porous structure. For technical applications controlling the
pore size and morphology are key parameters, being not yet fully
understood.5 For this reason further investigations and new perspectives
are needed to deepen the understanding of the involved processes.
We would like to add such a perspective by following on our previous
works where we focused on the influence of substrate doping type
and concentration.6,7 It is the objective of this study to investigate the
influence of temperature on the etching performance while keeping
the focus on the metal-substrate interaction.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1149/2.0131612jss