Kinetics of the electrochemical etching of silicon in oscillatory regimes

The kinetics of the electrochemical etching of Si in electrolytes dissolvin g its oxide (hydrofluoric acid and its mixtures with less aggressive minera l acids) was studied with the use of flicker noise spectroscopy (FNS), a ne w phenomenological method. Depending on the parameters of the electrochemic al process (acid concentration, temperature, polarization current, etc.), t he system executes either stochastic or rather regular oscillations. A FNS analysis of chaotic and regular signals shows that there is a high degree o f correlation in a sequence of events reflecting the kinetic behavior of th e electrochemical system.