Safe HF Etching at Home with an Etch Chamber

[@kinglonewolf104]

I work in a lab, and have been told that doubling up on gloves increases the chance of them tearing. However, we used poor quality gloves in the past which would tear for no real reason at all - not good when working with sewage samples or concentrated acids (mainly hydrochloric, phosporic and sulphuric). . &eB

[@jhyland87]

The double side sticky tape holds up to HF? Nice

[@ThiagoVilla0]

Because you fluorine is the only element that can replace the Si-Si, Si-H or Si-O bonds, so it's required in the microfabrication industry in order to etch Si wafers. It's also a key compound in producing porous silicon, a variant of Si itself.

[@Ziggenvox]

I wonder what you could use as a nano alternative to the vinyl. The large labs use UV reactive epoxy and some sort of imaging. This imaging already exists at the home scale via 3d printers that use the hardening to create a structure. Maybe you could flip your wafer over and use the uv light to project one layer of tiny chips for you.

[@Ziggenvox]

Tech ladies are by far the best.

[@lukasblenk3684]

Found dis Gem. Got my Wavers today. It took almost 2 month for them to get to me ^^. I now face the problem that the rust remover used in the video isn't available in Austria. Any recomondations?

[@nemesisgeek]

Interesting idea, I should try that some time. As of now I do all of my etching on single dies (delayering for RE) so I'm working with only a few hundred microliters at a time and haven't needed to use that much at a time (i.e. no concerns about vapors) I wear a Tyvek lab coat, splash goggles and polycarbonate face shield, and double gloves - Norfoil as the inner (and primary protection) layer and nitrile over the outside to increase dexterity. There's zero exposed skin with that setup.

[@shodanxx]

I thought she was etching a pcb, thanks for correcting my error from 2 years ago ;)

[@ea2683]

what are those container made of? (whats is the exact material of containers)

[@terryraymond7984]

why do some chip manufacturers use the whole round piece of silocon?

[@jaapweel1]

The Calgonate website also has a good list of safety procedures.

[@guntertv304]

can i use this chamber and the technic to make milk glas?

[@shodanxx]

why aren't people using 30% hydrochloric acid and 35% hydrogen peroxide ? you can get that at the hardware store and pharmacy, like under 5$ for 2 liters of solution and it works great !!! (except the fumes will make everything rust in the garage if you leave it in an open container for a week, oops) but it's so much safer

[@MrEternalpk]

this stuff is scary as shit I work with this most days as i work at a chemical waste processing plant and HF is used alot in catalytic mixtures. This stuff attacks the nervous system so you wont actually feel it burning you and it will soaked through and dissolve the bone... nice..

[@loverlifeless2794]

How long?

[@ThiagoVilla0]

Haha, not a problem. It's just the kind of knowledge that's been there for a while and everyone takes it for granted. Just take any microfab book and look for the "surface micromachining" section and you'll see HF, among other etchants, is there.

[@pratt123]

@shodanxx Yeah, even sulfuric acid is safer than HF acid.

[@HD41117]

Excellent! Thanks Jeri.

[@shodanxx]

I was completely wrong, I thought she was etching copper off fiberglass and not silicon wafers

[@javiersuarez118]

gracias!

[@blogsterification]

nice idea :)

[@philipwhong]

lol somewhat dangerous