chemical polishing

"Chemical polishing" is a technique used for thinning inorganic materials of semiconductors and insulators. In this technique, a specimen is immersed in a polishing solution that is mainly composed of strong acid or strong alkali. Then, the specimen is thinned with its surface kept smooth. The advantage of chemical polishing is that thin specimens can be made with no mechanical distortion stress. Normally, a polishing solution that does not cause selective dissolution (etching) is used. When a particular layer in a multi-layer semiconductor is required to observe, a specified solution is used, which dissolves other layers while leaving the particular layer.

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