A STUDY OF THE IONIC ROUTE FOR HYDROGEN TERMINATIONS RESULTING AFTER SIO2 ETCHING BY CONCENTRATED AQUEOUS-SOLUTIONS OF HF

An ionic route is proposed to account for the observed hydrogen termin ation resulting after the attack by HF concentrated aqueous solution t o thermally oxidized silicon. The route is constituted by three cycles each composed of four consecutive steps, the rate-determining one bei ng F- transfer from the etching solution to the coma of SiFn terminati on. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.