Monitoring Hydrogen Peroxide Using an Electrochemical Method During Metal Assisted Chemical Etching for Silicon
Journal
Silicon
Date Issued
2021
Author(s)
Abstract
Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) plays a vital role in some of the metal assisted chemical etching (MACE) processes for silicon. However, it evaporates easily during etching at higher temperatures and this makes the process difficult to control. As a result, the MACE process for the inverted pyramid (IP) texturization that uses H2O2 is industrially unattractive. Herein, we proposed an innovative method to monitor H2O2 during the MACE process with an electrochemical method. The screen-printed electrode (SPE) modified by reduced graphene oxide (RGO) was used. The electrode demonstrated excellent electrochemical performance and could monitor the changes of H2O2 concentration with cyclic voltammetry (CV). Interestingly, the presence of copper (Cu) in the etching solution catalyzed not only the etching process, but also the electrochemical reduction of H2O2. With a consistent H2O2 concentration measured by the electrode, the reflectivity and structural morphology of the etched wafers could be controlled easily. The electrode is disposable, and the fabrication process is rapid and inexpensive, which is suitable for real time control of the MACE processes. ? 2021, Springer Nature B.V.
Subjects
Chemical etching
Copper nanoparticles
Electrochemical reduction
Hydrogen peroxide
Reduced graphene oxide
Cyclic voltammetry
Electrochemical electrodes
Electrolytic reduction
Etching
Graphene
Oxidation
Peroxides
Real time control
Silicon wafers
ELectrochemical methods
Electrochemical performance
Electrochemical reductions
Fabrication process
Metal-assisted chemical etching
Reduced graphene oxides (RGO)
Screen printed electrodes
Structural morphology
Process control
SDGs
Type
journal article