IN-SITU REAL-TIME STUDY OF CHEMICAL ETCHING PROCESS OF SI(100) USING LIGHT-SCATTERING

We report the development of an in situ real-time light scattering tec hnique to study the wet chemical etching process of Si(100), Based on a simple scattering theory, the number of etch pits and other statisti cal parameters such as correlation length and interface width on a pit ted surface are extracted from the scattering profile. The time evolut ion of the surface morphology can be interpreted by a simple rate equa tion. (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.