A method for producing a component having at least one diaphragm formed in the upper surface of the component, which diaphragm spans a cavity, and having at least one access opening to the cavity from the back side of the component, at least one first diaphragm layer and the cavity being produced in a monolithic semiconductor substrate from the upper surface of the component, and the access opening being produced in a temporally limited etching step from the back side of the substrate. The access opening is placed in a region in which the substrate material comes up to the first diaphragm layer. The etching process for producing the access opening includes at least one anisotropic etching step and at least one isotropic etching step, in the anisotropic etching step, an etching channel from the back side of the substrate being produced, which terminates beneath the first diaphragm layer in the vicinity of the cavity, and at least the end region of this etching channel being expanded in the isotropic etching step until the etching channel is connected to the cavity.