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Study of Metal Etching Using Ozone Water
Author(s) -
Hatsuki Ryuji,
Yamamoto Takatoki
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
electrical engineering in japan
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.136
H-Index - 28
eISSN - 1520-6416
pISSN - 0424-7760
DOI - 10.1002/eej.22532
Subject(s) - etching (microfabrication) , ozone , nanometre , materials science , reactive ion etching , arrhenius plot , arrhenius equation , nanoscopic scale , dry etching , metal , isotropic etching , microscale chemistry , surface finish , surface roughness , analytical chemistry (journal) , nanotechnology , activation energy , chemical engineering , chemistry , composite material , metallurgy , environmental chemistry , layer (electronics) , mathematics education , organic chemistry , mathematics , engineering
SUMMARY We have proposed and experimentally demonstrated an environmental friendly, simple, and inexpensive etching method for metal using ozone water. We experimentally measured the dependencies of ozone water etching on the temperature and ozone concentration for several metals (Cr, Ni, Al, Au, and Ti), and also evaluated the surface roughness of the etched surface. The etching mechanism using ozone water can be explained by the activation energy obtained using an Arrhenius plot and a pH‐potential diagram. As a result, it was found that the etching rate was proportional to the dissolved ozone concentration and temperature, and that an atomically flat surface was obtained after etching with ozone water, although it was also found that the etching rate was very low at a few tens of nanometers per hour. It is therefore difficult to use this method for performing conventional macro‐ and microscale etching, whereas the rate is sufficiently high to use it for nanoscale (i.e., a few tens of nanometers) metal etching in nanoscience and nanotechnology.