Rate of localized gas discharge etching of silicon

The dependence of the etching rate of silicon on the technological, design, and electrophysical parameters that characterize the glowing conditions and the properties of a localized gas discharge is studied. Experiments are performed at a gas pressure of 104–105 Pa and a discharge gap of 50–500 μm. Emission spectroscopy is shown to be an efficient method for controlling the beginning and the end of localized gas discharge etching of different materials.