David, We use the following to remove Al2O3 from the Al substrate. You may have to experiment with the amount of time or some of the weights. Otherwise this works very well. Hope this helps. 6.0 g. phosphoric acid at 35-40 C. 1.55 g. chromium trioxide 100.0 ml water Best regards, Jon Hiller ================================================================== Jon M. Hiller Argonne National Laboratory Materials Science Division Electron Microscopy Center Tel: 630-252-9558 Fax: 630-252-4798 Email: hiller@anl.gov ==================================================================