Anisotropic etching of amorphous glass surfaces

Anisotropic, crystal‐oriented etching of silicon is well known. Anisotropic etching of amorphous silica with purely isotropic hydrofluoric acid as etchant is an unexpected phenomenon. Within a collaboration of the Mesoscopic 3D Systems group, the Chair of Microsystem Technology, the Chair of Nanoelectronics at TU Dresden and the Paul Scherrer Institute (Switzerland), R. Kirchner et al. have just demonstrated the fabrication of pyramidal structures in silicon dioxide and glass by utilizing the enhanced lateral under‐etching beneath metal masks. This self‐perfecting method being recently published in SMALL (Wiley) is attractive for precision 3D surface texturing.

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