Corrosion of porous silicon in tetramethylammonium hydroxide solution

Corrosion of porous silicon in tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) solution was studied using weight loss measurements and scanning electron microscope. The effects of temperature, concentration of TMAH and volume ratio of ethanol in 1.0 M TMAH on corrosion rate and corrosion time were elaborately investigated. The residue of corrosion products were characterized as a mixture of [(CH3)4N]2SiO3 and SiO2. A comparative test among TMAH, KOH and NaOH illustrated that the 1.0 M TMAH could act as an applicable and novel corrosion solution to remove porous silicon layer for determining the porosity of porous silicon.