> Looking for a non-CrO3 etch for finding dislocation, slip, and stacking > fault defects in 100 Si slices. Hi ! There is a silicon etch (called the Sato etch) that was published by researchers at Toshiba Ceramics Co. that I have used with excellent results: HF (49%) : HNO3 (70%) : CH3COOH (90%) : H2O = 1 : 15 : 3 : 1 This etches silicon at a rate of about 4.2 microns/minute, and delineates dislocations and stacking faults very well. It is heavy on the nitric acid, which acts as the oxidizing agent instead of the chromium trioxide. I'm sorry my reply took so long, but I had to dig up the reference from my notes. Cheers, Greg Mattiussi