In this work, we have developed a simple method to fabricate 3D microstructures which eliminates the use of photoresist as molding material. Our method of pattern transfer exploits the anisotropic etch of silicon using EDP or TMAH which allows fabrication of unique structures that would have not been possible by the photoresist-mold method. In this technology the etched silicon substrate itself is used as the mold for subsequent electroplating process to deposit metallic material such as gold, nickel or Iron-nickel alloy. These electroplated microstructures can be easily removed from the silicon mold by choosing an appropriate seed layer which gives poor adhesion to silicon or silicon dioxide substrate. Using this technology metallic microstructures with thicknesses of 300pm has been fabricated to demonstrate the feasibility. We have also fabricated a sharp tip, pyramidal structures suitable for ionization detectors in an integrated micromachined gas chromatographic system.
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