Hi Shweta first of all, HF either as it is or in form of a BOE does not etch silicon practically at all. If you want to etch silicon by HF based solution, you have to add an oxidant, such as nitric acid. And nitrid acid is a PR stripper so quite obviously it will remove your PR very well. You can use as a mask either good silicon oxide (such as thermal) or LPCVD silicon niitride. Dry etching is far mor comfortable, either SF6 plasma or XeF2 vapor will do the job very well. in case you are interested to try out the XeF2 vapors, you can just send us your wafer (wafers) or samples and we will do it for you free of charge. In both cases, SF6 or XeF2 you can use PR as a masking material for the depth of 4 um. For the lnger etching, XeF2 might be better as it does not attack PR at all. Pavel ===== Pavel Neuzil CTO SiMEMS Pte Ltd __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Platinum - Watch CBS' NCAA March Madness, live on your desktop! http://platinum.yahoo.com