Xenon difluoride is a gas phase, room temperature, isotropic silicon etchant with extremely high selectivity to many materials commonly used in microelectromechancial systems, including photoresists, aluminum, and silicon dioxide. Using a simple vacuum system, the effects of etch aperture and loading were explored for etches between 10 and 200 micrometers . Etch rates as high as 40 micrometers /minute were observed. Initial characteriation of wafer surface temperature during the etch indicates tens of degrees of self-heating, which is known to cause substantial decrease in etch rate.© (1995) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.