STUDY OF USING TRITON X-100 SURFACTANT FOR POROUS ETCHING OF AMORPHOUS SiC

Due to the inertness of the SiC material to the chemical impact, creating a porous layer on the SiC thin films and especially on non-doped amorphous SiC (aSiC) thin films is a very difficult task. To overcome this difficulty, one solution is using surface activation substances. In this report we present a study of the role of the Triton X-100 (TX100) added to the HF/H2O electrolyte in fabricating a porous layer with the size of pores in the nanometer region on the aSiC thin films by the electrochemical etching method. The results showed that, in general TX100 is effective for porous etching. However, for differently doped aSiC materials (non-doped, n-doped and p-doped), TX100 has different levels of effect. TX100 reveals a prominent role in porous etching of n-doped aSiC, with higher concentration of TX100 giving greater porosity. Meanwhile, although TX100 also acts as a support to the porous etching of non-doped aSiC, its various concentrations in the region of 0.05-1% give the same porosity. At last, TX100 has no effect in porous etching of p-doped aSiC.