Surface roughness porous silicon formation

The formation of porous layers in silicon by chemical etching in HF/HNO3 solutions was first reported at about the same time as electrochemical etching [101-104]. These so-called stain etch films are characterized by rough or porous surfaces, typically < 500 A in thickness. Recent work has shown that these stain etch films exhibit strong visible photoluminescence, similar to the emission observed from electrochemically etched porous silicon layers. 

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