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Underetching from simple stochastic etching kinetics

Jens Christian Claussen·Jürgen Carstensen
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Abstract

The morphological richness of electrochemical semiconductor etching is not sufficiently counterparted yet by theoretical modeling. This paper investigates a minimal version of the Current-Burst model with Aging of Föll and Carstensen and demonstrates for a restricted geometry that the Aging concept is essential for underetching, or cavity generation. If the influence of Aging is neglected, the dynamics reduces to a Random Etching Model similar to the Random Deposition model. This computer {\sl gedanken experiment} demonstrates that the stochastic dynamics with ageing-dependent kinetic reaction probabilities accounts for the different etching morphologies compared to those obtained in surface roughening and related systems.

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Jens Christian Claussen, Jürgen Carstensen. 2004-10-21. Underetching from simple stochastic etching kinetics. https://arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/0410541

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