I think the only way that HF can make silicon hydrophobic is to remove all the
silicon dioxide and leave virgin silicon.  A situation that lasts as long as it
takes the silicon to regrow oxide in astmosphere.  Not long.  A monolayer
chemical modification can turn the surface into a true hydrophobic surface.  The
correct chemicals can produce a surface that is slicker than Teflon. This
surface can survive aggresive treatments. Bill Moffat

________________________________________
From: mems-talk-bounces+bmoffat=yieldengineering.com@memsnet.org [mems-talk-
bounces+bmoffat=yieldengineering.com@memsnet.org] on behalf of Jie Zou
[zoujiepku@gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, June 02, 2011 8:53 AM
To: General MEMS discussion
Subject: Re: [mems-talk] dicing problem with silicon wafer

Doesn't HF do that for Si wafers? I don't know for the Pt surfaces.

Jie