Abstract
We report a novel etching technique for gold film based on a new phenomenon that gold is soluble in chlorine-containing solutions or solvents under UV irradiation. This is a promising method for gold patterning possibly in microdevice or nanodevice fabrication. Mask patterns can be transferred to a gold surface directly without resorting to a complex photoresist process, and etch rate can be controlled from sub-nanometer to a few tens of nanometers per minute by adjusting exposure parameters. Moreover, nontoxic liquid such as NaCl solution can be used for the process.