Inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching of high aspect ratio structures on 4H-SiC for MEMS applications

As silicon carbide(SiC) gets more and more attention from the semiconductor industry due to its robust mechanical and chemical properties, reliable and standardized processing technologies such as reactive ion etching(RIE) for SiC are in great demand. This is because of the difficulty and challenge of fabricating micro devices on the SiC...

On the Use of Black Ti as a Bone Substituting Biomaterial: Behind the Scenes of Dual-Functionality

Despite the potential of small-scale pillars of black titanium (bTi) for killing the bacteria and directing the fate of stem cells, not much is known about the effects of the pillars’ design parameters on their biological properties. Here, three distinct bTi surfaces are designed and fabricated through dry etching of the titanium, each...

Silicon Nitride MOMS Oscillator for Room Temperature Quantum Optomechanics

Optomechanical SiN nano-oscillators in high-finesse Fabry-Perot cavities can be used to investigate the interaction between mechanical and optical degree of freedom for ultra-sensitive metrology and fundamental quantum mechanical studies. In this paper, we present a nano-oscillator made of a high-stress round-shaped SiN membrane with an...

Direct submicron patterning of titanium for bone implants

Recent research evidences the strong modulatory role of controlled submicron and nanoscale topographies on stem cells fate. To harness these physical surface cues for clinical applications, fabrication of nano- and submicron patterns on clinically relevant biomaterials is greatly needed. In this study, an electron beam lithography method for...

Investigation of "fur-like" residues post dry etching of polyimide using aluminum hard etch mask

The authors found that oxygen plasma etching of polyimide (PI) with aluminum (Al) as a hard-etch mask results in lightly textured arbitrary shaped “fur-like” residues. Upon investigation, the presence of Al was detected in these residues. Ruling out several causes of metal contamination that were already reported in literature, a new theory for...

Pattern transfer into silicon using sub-10 nm masks made by electron beam induced deposition

To demonstrate the possibility of using EBID masks for sub-10 nm pattern transfer into silicon, first experiments were carried out by using 20-40 nm EBID masks, that were etched by different chemistries. It is experimentally verified that recipes based on hydrogen bromide, chlorine and boron trichloride can selectively etch silicon when using 20...

Pattern transfer into silicon using sub-10 nm masks made by electron beam-induced deposition

To demonstrate the possibility of using electron beam-induced deposition (EBID) masks for sub-10 nm pattern transfer into silicon, first experiments were carried out by using 20- to 40-nm EBID masks, which were etched by different chemistries. It is experimentally verified that recipes based on hydrogen bromide, chlorine, and boron trichloride...

Suspended Submicron Silicon-Beam for High Sensitivity Piezoresistive Sensing

This paper presents a submicron suspended piezoresistive silicon-beam structure as a basic sensing element to replace the conventional piezoresistors, so to improve the detection sensitivity. The alternative element benefits from the increase of the induced stress, which is locally concentrated on the suspended submicron beam. This approach...

Silicon MEMS for Detection of Liquid and Solid Fronts

High-precision manipulation of small-size objects is an attractive and challenging topic for both industrial production and fundamental scientific research. The capability of monitoring micro-samples during handling is essential to the accuracy and efficiency of a handling system for both liquid and solid samples. When handling liquid samples...

DRIE and Bonding Assisted Low Cost MEMS Processing of In-plane HAR Inertial Sensors

We present a simple, flexible and low cost MEMS fabrication process, developed using deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) and wafer bonding technologies, for manufacturing in-plane high aspect ratio (HAR) inertial sensors. Among examples, the design and fabrication results of a two axis inertial device are presented. Fabricated device thickness...