Electrochemical Etching of Crystalline Quartz

We present a method to electrochemically etch crystalline quartz. Electrochemical etching has not been previously explored as a method for processing quartz because of its insulating nature. By injecting energetic charge carriers into the quartz it can be made temporarily conductive, allowing currents which will affect the chemical etch rate. This was verified by etching samples of AT-cut quartz while bombarding the sample with electrons. Etch depths were plotted as a function of current density, showing variations of +/- 3x the control etch rate. The ability to increase and decrease the etch rate can be used to define quartz microstructures.