This study investigates experimentally eruptive boiling in a silicon-based rectangular microchannel with a hydraulic diameter of 33.7 mu m, a width of 99.8 mu m and a depth-to-width ratio of 0.203. The microchannel is made of SOI wafer and prepared using bulk micro-machining and anodic bonding. The surface roughness for both the bottom and the side walls was measured using an atomic force microscope. The evolution of the eruptive boiling of water in the smooth microchannel was clearly observed using an ultra high-speed video camera (up to 50,000 frames/s) at mass fluxes of 417 and 625 kg/m(2) s and a heat flux from 14.9 to 372 kW/m(2). It is confirmed that eruptive boiling is a form of rapid bubble nucleation after which the bubble merges with a slug bubble downstream in a short distance or evolve to a slug bubble. The bubble frequency in all of the cases studied is provided. Eruptive boiling may be predicted classically with nano-sized cavities that are consistent with the measured surface roughness. (c) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.