Silicon Deep Etching Techniques for MEMS Devices

Silicon deep etching technique is the key fabrication step in the development of MEMS. The mask selectivity and the lateral etching control are the two primary factors that decide the result of deep etching process. These two factors are studied in this paper. The experimental results show that the higher selectivity can be gotten when F - gas is used as etching gas and Al is introduced as mask layer. The lateral etching problems can be solved by adjusting the etching condition, such as increasing the RF power, changing the gas composition and flow volume of etching machine.

Experimental Study on Wax Protective Coating for Wet Deep Silicon Etching Processes

In order to protect the finished structures on the front side during deep silicon wet etching processes, the wax coating for double-sided etching process on the wafer is studied to separate the aforementioned structures from the strong aqueous bases. By way of heating and vacuumization, the air bubbles are expelled from the coating to extend the protection duration. The air pressure in the sealed chamber is 0.026 7 Pa, and the temperature of the heated wafer is 300℃. Two kinds of the wax are used, and the corresponding photos of the etched wafer and the protection times are given. In 75 ℃ 10 % KOH solution, the protection duration is more than 8 h.

Fabrication of Ultra Deep Electrical Isolation Trenches with High Aspect Ratio Using DRIE and Dielectric Refill

A novel technique to fabricate ultra deep high aspect ratio electrical isolation trenches with DRIE and dielectric refill is presented.The relationship between trench profile and DRIE parameters is discussed.By optimizing DRIE parameters and RIE etching the trenches’ opening,the ideal trench profile is obtained to ensure that the trenches are fully refilled without voids.The electrical isolation trenches are 5μm wide and 92μm deep with 0.5μm thick oxide layers on the sidewall as isolation material.The measured I-V result shows that the trench structure has good electrical isolation performance:the average resistance in the range of 0～100V is more than 10 11Ω and no breakdown appears under 100V.This isolation trench structure has been used in fabrication of the bulk integrated micromachined gyroscope,which shows high performance.

Experimental Study on the Footing Effect for SOG Structures Using DRIE

This paper experimentally studies the effects of the conductivity of a silicon wafer and the gap height between silicon structures and glass substrate on the footing effect for silicon on glass （SOG） structures in the deep reactive ion etching （DRIE） process. Experiments with gap heights of 5,20, and 50μm were carried out for performance comparison of the footing effect. Also,two kinds of silicon wafers with resistivity of 2-4 and 0.01-0. 0312Ω· cm were used for the exploration. The results show that structures with resistivity of 0.01 - 0. 0312Ω· cm have better topography than those with resistivity of 2-4Ω· cm; and structures with 50μm-high gaps between silicon structures and glass substrate suffer some- what less of a footing effect than those with 20μm-high gaps,and much less than those with Stem-high gaps. Our theoretical analysis indicates that either the higher conductivity of the silicon wafer or a larger gap height between silicon structures and glass substrate can suppress footing effects. The results can contribute to the choice of silicon type and optimum design for many microsensors.

Formation mechanism of multi-functional black silicon based on optimized deep reactive ion etching technique with SF_6/C_4F_8

This paper reports a controllable multi-functional black silicon surface with nanocone-forest structures fabricated by an optimized deep reactive ion etching(DRIE)technique using SF6/C4F8 in cyclic etching-passivation process,which is maskless,effective and controllable.The process conditions are investigated by systematically comparative experiments and core parameters have been figured out,including etching process parameters,pre-treatment,patterned silicon etching and inclined surface etching.Based on the experimental data,the formation mechanism of nanocone shape is developed,which provides a novel view for in-depth understanding of abnormal phenomena observed in the experiments under different process situations.After the optimization of the process parameters,the black silicon surfaces exhibit superhydrophobicity with tunable reflectance.Additionally,the quantitative relationship between nanocones aspect ratio and surface reflectance and static contact angle is obtained,which demonstrates that black silicon surfaces with unique functional properties(i.e.,cross-combination of reflectance and wettability)can be achieved by controlling the morphology of nanostructures.

Fabrication of High-Density Out-of-Plane Microneedle Arrays with Various Heights and Diverse Cross-Sectional Shapes

Out-of-plane microneedle structures are widely used in various applications such as transcutaneous drug delivery and neural signal recording for brain machine interface.This work presents a novel but simple method to fabricate high-density silicon(Si)microneedle arrays with various heights and diverse cross-sectional shapes depending on photomask pattern designs.The proposed fabrication method is composed of a single photolithography and two subsequent deep reactive ion etching(DRIE)steps.First,a photoresist layer was patterned on a Si substrate to define areas to be etched,which will eventually determine the final location and shape of each individual microneedle.Then,the 1st DRIE step created deep trenches with a highly anisotropic etching of the Si substrate.Subsequently,the photoresist was removed for more isotropic etching;the 2nd DRIE isolated and sharpened microneedles from the predefined trench structures.Depending on diverse photomask designs,the 2nd DRIE formed arrays of microneedles that have various height distributions,as well as diverse cross-sectional shapes across the substrate.With these simple steps,high-aspect ratio microneedles were created in the high density of up to 625 microneedles mm^(-2)on a Si wafer.Insertion tests showed a small force as low as~172μN/microneedle is required for microneedle arrays to penetrate the dura mater of a mouse brain.To demonstrate a feasibility of drug delivery application,we also implemented silk microneedle arrays using molding processes.The fabrication method of the present study is expected to be broadly applicable to create microneedle structures for drug delivery,neuroprosthetic devices,and so on.

Above 700 V superjunction MOSFETs fabricated by deep trench etching and epitaxial growth

Silicon superjunction power MOSFETs were fabricated with deep trench etching and epitaxial growth,based on the process platform of the Shanghai Hua Hong NEC Electronics Company Limited.The breakdown voltages of the fabricated superjunction MOSFETs are above 700 V and agree with the simulation.The dynamic characteristics, especially reverse diode characteristics,are equivalent or even superior to foreign counterparts.

Subtle Variations in Surface Properties of Black Silicon Surfaces Influence the Degree of Bactericidal Efficiency

One of the major challenges faced by the biomedical industry is the development of robust synthetic surfaces that can resist bacterial colonization. Much inspiration has been drawn recently from naturally occurring mechano-bactericidal surfaces such as the wings of cicada(Psaltoda claripennis) and dragonfly(Diplacodes bipunctata) species in fabricating their synthetic analogs. However,the bactericidal activity of nanostructured surfaces is observed in a particular range of parameters reflecting the geometry of nanostructures and surface wettability. Here,several of the nanometer-scale characteristics of black silicon(bSi) surfaces including the density and height of the nanopillars that have the potential to influence the bactericidal efficiency of these nanostructured surfaces have been investigated. The results provide important evidence that minor variations in the nanoarchitecture of substrata can substantially alter their performance as bactericidal surfaces.

A MICROFABRICATED METAL GRATING OSCILLATOR FOR ELECTRIC FIELD DETECTION

This letter proposes a novel design of a Micro Electro Mechanical System （MEMS） device featuring a metal grating vibratory mierostructure driven by electrostatic force to sense the spatial electric field. Due to the advantages in slide-film damping and large vibration amplitude, such a device makes atmospheric packaging a low-cost option for practical manufacture. In this letter, we present the operating principles and specifications, the design structure, as well as the finite element simulation. Computational analysis shows that our design obtains good results in device parameters setting, while its simplicity and low-cost features make it an attractive solution for applications.

Statistical key variable analysis and model-based control for improvement performance in a deep reactive ion etching process

This paper proposes to develop a data-driven via＇s depth estimator of the deep reactive ion etching process based on statistical identification of key variables.Several feature extraction algorithms are presented to reduce the high-dimensional data and effectively undertake the subsequent virtual metrology（VM） model building process.With the available on-line VM model,the model-based controller is hence readily applicable to improve the quality of a via＇s depth.Real operational data taken from a industrial manufacturing process are used to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method.The results demonstrate that the proposed method can decrease the MSE from 2.2×10^（-2） to 9×10^（-4） and has great potential in improving the existing DRIE process.

A New Approach to Cleave MEMS Devices from Silicon Substrates

Dicing of fabricated MEMS （microelectromechanical system） devices is sometimes a source of challenge, especially when devices are overhanging structures. In this work, a modified cleaving technique is developed to precisely separate fabricated devices from a silicon substrate without requiring a dicing machine. This technique is based on DRIE （deep reactive ion etching） which is regularly used to make cleaving trenches in the substrate during the releasing stage. Other similar techniques require some extra later steps or in some cases a long HF soak. To mask the etching process, a thick photoresist is used. It is shown that by applying different UV （ultraviolate） exposure and developing times for the photoresist, the DRIE process could be controlled to etch specific cleaving trenches with less depth than other patterns on the photoresist. Those cleaving trenches are used to cleave the wafer later, while the whole wafer remains as one piece until the end of the silicon etching despite some features being etched all the way through the wafer at the same time. The other steps of fabricating and releasing the devices are unaffected. The process flow is described in details and some results of applying this technique for cleaving fabricated cantilevers on a silicon substrate are presented.

Fabrication of high-voltage light emitting diodes with a deep isolation groove structure

In order to connect several independent LEDs in series, inductively coupled plasma （ICP） deep etching of GaN is required for isolation. The GaN-based high-voltage （HV） LEDs with a 5 μm deep isolation groove and an acceptable mesa sidewall angle of 79.2° are fabricated and presented. The surface morphology and construction profile of the etched groove are characterized by laser microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. After contact metal formation and annealing, the electrical properties are evaluated by I-V characteristics. The trend of the I-V curve has good accordance with conventional LEDs. The contact resistance of HV LEDs is also tested and was reduced by 4.6 Ω compared to conventional LEDs, while the output power increased by 5 W. The results show that this technique can be applied to practical fabrication.

The even device fabricated by the deep etched binary optics technology for the exposure system of the quasi-molecule laser

By applying the specific properties and the fabricating technology of the deep etched elements presented by us, the even device of deep etched binary optics has been designed and fabricated which can be used in quasi-molecule laser exposure system. This even device is light in weight, easy to adjust and has a high utilization rate of energy and is able to project well-distributed light beams. So it is better than the conventional one which was an array made up of quartz sticks. The properties and designed parameters were studied and simulated. The fabricated even was precisely tested by high precision Alpha-Steper. The testing result of the surface relief structures of the even has been profoundly analyzed by introducing “boundary errors”. The theory agrees well with the results of the experiment. This is the first successful application of the deep etched theory and technology of binary optics to the exposure system of microfabrication.

Fabrication and characterization of squama-shape micro/nano multi-scale silicon material

This paper presents the fabrication of squama-shape micro/nano multi-scale structures and the analysis of the interaction among different-scale structures during the fabrication processes. Well-designed microstructures made of inverted pyramids and V-shape grooves are fabricated by KOH wet etching. High-dense high-aspect-ratio (HAR) nanostructures are fabricated atop microstructures by an improved maskless deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) process, with an optimized recipe to form micro/nano dual-scale structures (MNDS). Due to the impact of the profile of microstructures on the shape of nanostructures, dissymmetrical (i.e., squama-shape) nanopillars have been formed on the inclined surfaces of microstructures, while the symmetrical nanopillars are formed on the horizontal surfaces with different formation velocities. Furthermore, the optical properties of MNDS are not sensitive to structural parameters of microstructures, making the sample overcome the lithography limitation of conventional processes for photo-devices. Eventually, three-level structures are fabricated by sputtering a gold thin film on the MNDS, and the profile of MNDS is selective in the deposition of gold particles, which is very useful for practical applications.

A review:crystalline silicon membranes over sealed cavities for pressure sensors by using silicon migration technology

A silicon pressure sensor is one of the very first MEMS components appearing in the microsystem area.The market for the MEMS pressure sensor is rapidly growing due to consumer electronic applications in recent years. Requirements of the pressure sensors with low cost, low power consumption and high accuracy drive one to develop a novel technology. This paper first overviews the historical development of the absolute pressure sensor briefly. It then reviews the state of the art technology for fabricating crystalline silicon membranes over sealed cavities by using the silicon migration technology in detail. By using only one lithographic step, the membranes defined in lateral and vertical dimensions can be realized by the technology. Finally, applications of MEMS through using the silicon migration technology are summarized.