Etchant for conductive materials and method of manufacturing a thin film transistor array panel using the same

An etchant for conductive materials comprising:

• about 65 wt % to about 75 wt % of phosphoric acid;
• about 0.5 wt % to about 15 wt % of nitric acid;
• about 2 wt % to about 15 wt % of acetic acid;
• about 0.1 wt % to about 8.0 wt % of a potassium compound including potassium nitrate (KNO3) and potassium acetate (KC2H3O2);
• and
• deionized water.

A method for manufacturing a thin film transistor array panel, comprising:

• forming a gate line having a gate electrode on an insulating substrate;
• depositing in sequence a gate insulating layer, and a semiconductor layer on the gate line;
• forming a drain electrode on the gate insulating layer and the semiconductor layer,
• forming a data line having a source electrode on the gate insulating layer and the semiconductor layer such that a gap is disposed between the drain electrode and the source electrode;
• and
• forming a pixel electrode connected to the drain electrode,
• wherein at least one of the gate line, the data line, the drain electrode, and the pixel electrode is formed by photo-etching using an etchant comprising about 65 wt % to about 75 wt % of phosphoric acid, about 0.5 wt % to about 15 wt % of nitric acid, about 2 wt % to about 15 wt % of acetic acid, about 0.1 wt % to about 8.0 wt % of a potassium compound, and deionized water.