Schottky Barrier Catalysis Mechanism in Metal-Assisted Chemical Etching of Silicon

Metal-assisted chemical etching (MACE) is a versatile anisotropic etch for silicon although its mechanism is not well understood. Here we propose that the Schottky junction formed between metal and silicon plays an essential role on the distribution of holes in silicon injected from hydrogen peroxide. The proposed mechanism can be used to explain the dependence of the etching kinetics on the doping level, doping type, crystallographic surface direction, and etchant solution composition. We used the doping dependence of the reaction to fabricate a novel etch stop for the reaction.