Fabrication of uniform micropattern arrays using nonionic surfactant-based wet etching process of high purity aluminum

ABSTRACT In this paper, the effects of a nonionic surfactant on the etch uniformity and the etch profile during the wet-etching process of high-purity aluminum were investigated for the fabrication of uniform micropattern arrays. To improve the surface roughness of a high-purity aluminum plate, a mechanical lapping process and an electrolytic polishing process were used. After electrolytic polishing process, the surface roughness, Ra, of the high-purity aluminum plate was improved from 1.25 ㎛ to 0.02 ㎛. A photoresist was used as an etching mask during the aluminum etching process, where the mixture of phosphoric acid, acetic acid, nitric acid, a nonionic surfactant and water was used as the aluminum etchant. Different amounts of the Triton X-100 nonionic surfactant were added to the aluminum etchant to investigate the effect of a nonionic surfactant during the wet-etching process of high-purity aluminum. The etch rate and the etch profile were measured by an optical interferometer and a scanning electron microscope.