TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - ELECTRONICS - Preferred Method: At least 90% of the predetermined area of the surface to be textured is etched. The spatial modulation of the pattern of discrete deposition points has a modulation amplitude of at least 50 nm. The composition, water content and thickness of the layer of base etching component are selected to determine the degree of spreading that the fluid etching component will exhibit when it is deposited on the base etching component. The fluid etching component is deposited using a printing method. The pattern of discrete deposition points is predetermined. The fluid etching component is deposited using a deposition device selected as one of a screen printer, a drop-on-demand inkjet printer, a continuous printer, or an electrohydrodynamic printer. The fluid etching component is an aerosol and the pattern of discrete deposition points is an arbitrary pattern. The fluid etching component is deposited using an aerosol printer or aerosol spraying device. The pattern etched on the surface has a primary direction of orientation which is aligned with a printing direction of the printing method. The thickness of the layer of base etching component is determined by the viscosity of a solution used to form the layer of base etching component. After the fluid etching component is deposited the spreading at some adjacent deposition points causes them to overlap. The pattern in which the etching component is deposited is a digital pattern. The fluid etching component is a liquid or a gas. The etching is performed to create a textured surface and the resulting textured surface is used to enhance the capture of light into a device. The device is a photovoltaic device formed in the silicon, or a photovoltaic device formed in a semiconductor film layer on the etched surface. The maximum depth of the etched pattern is not greater than 100 nm. The texture pattern is formed a having rounded features by immersing the textured surface in a solution which isotropically etches the substance.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - INORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Components: The substance is glass and the isotropic etchant is a solution comprising HF or mixtures of HF and NH4F. The solution comprising 10% 7:1 buffered oxide etches is used as the isotropic etchant.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - POLYMERS - Preferred Components: The base etching component layer comprises a polymer film. The base etching component layer contains aligned molecular components, where alignment of the molecular components is achieved using poling. The polymer film is formed using polymers which act as liquid crystal molecules. The polymer film comprises one of poly-n-alkyl acrylates, poly-n-alkyl methacrylates, poly-n-alkylvinyl ethers, poly-n-alkylvinyl esters and poly-n-alkylstyrenes. The polymer film is formed using polymers which contain small molecule additives which act as liquid crystals. The additives comprise one of poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate, and polyethylene glycol derivatives having charged side chains. The polymer film incorporates small molecule liquid crystals into side chains of acidic polymers to impart liquid crystal behavior on the resulting polymer phase. The liquid crystals are able to be poled (or aligned) in specified directions in the polymer phase by an applied electrical field. The polymer films are used to impart a desired directionality on the resulting textured pattern and to further reduce the resolution or pitch of the resulting texture pattern. EXAMPLE - No suitable example is given.