The effect of temperature gradient on the variation of surface topography and reflectivity of anisotropically etched silicon wafers

[Display omitted] •Anisotropic etching of silicon wafer under temperature gradient was studied.•The influence of temperature gradient magnitude and etching time was tested.•Novel etching method with standard etching solution.•High specific surface of the etched wafer resulting in dramatic reflectance decrease. A novel approach to wet etching of silicon wafers (100) is described in this study. Homogenous organized surface structures were prepared by the utilization of self-organized flow in the etching solution (Bénard-Marangoni thermocapillar instability). The driving force behind this process is a temperature gradient generated by the etching apparatus exclusively constructed for this research. The influences of temperature gradients (1–20K) and etching time (20–55min) were studied, with the potassium hydroxide/isopropyl alcohol etching solution. Obtained results indicate that self-organized flow can be utilized for specific and rapid etching, which allows significant variation of the topography and reflectivity of the silicon wafer surface textured in this way.