While deep reactive ion etching using an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) source has proven to be a boon to the fabrication of silicon-based microelectromechanical systems, the process is highly sensitive to the geometry of any given device and needs to be modified accordingly. For a chemical microreactor involving fluidic structures of highly varying geometry on the same device, the implementation of ICP etching can be especially challenging. We present the results of a study of one such implementation. (C) 2003 American Vacuum Society. [DOI: 10. 1116/1.1560162].