Inside Back Cover (Phys. Status Solidi A 4/2010)

Yokoyama et al. (p. 943) examine the formation of ordered microstructures on an InP substrate by metal-assisted chemical etching and by anodic etching using colloidal crystals as a mask. The metal-assisted chemical etching of the InP substrate was carried out in a mixed solution of H2SO4/H2O2 using a Pt honeycomb pattern as catalyst; by ion sputtering through the mask, InP column arrays with a close-packed configuration having an ordered periodicity were formed. In the case of anodic etching, with a layer of colloidal crystals consisting of polystyrene spheres as a mask, HCl was used as electrolyte. At the optimum HCl concentration, InP disk arrays or pillar arrays, respectively, were fabricated: see the SEM images on the left of the cover picture (1.5 mol dm-3 HCl) and the AFM tapping-mode image and line scan on the right (2 mol dm-3 HCl).