Selective etching studies on cesium iodide crystals

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The etching behaviour of {100} faces of cesium iodide crystal in solutions composed from a number of inorganic salts (CuCl 2.2H 2O, CsCuCl 3, Cs 2CuCl 4, CuI, C 32H 16N 8Cu, FeCl 3, NiCl 2, CoCl 2, CdCl 2, NH 4OH, NH 4Cl, etc .) and water in different alcohols (methanol, rectified and absolute ethanol, isopropanol and butanol) is studied. It is shown that all the used alcohols can serve as a solvent for the selective etching and only copper salts, which are capable to dissociate and form complex compounds composed of Cu-H 2O-Cl, can be used as additives. Data on the dependence of etch pit size and morphology on CuCl 2.2H 2O content are presented. From the spectral data the etching solutions containing different amount of CuCl 2.2H 2O, the nature of different complexes present in the etching solutions is inferred. On the basis of the nature of the complexes, some features of selective etching, e.g. change in etch pit morphology, surface roughening at low CuCl 2.2H 2O concentrations, etc. are discussed.