Rapid sacrificial layer etching for the fabrication of nanochannels with integrated metal electrodes.
We present a rapid etch method to surface-micromachine nanochannels with integrated noble metal electrodes using a single metal sacrificial layer. The method is based on the galvanic coupling of a chromium sacrificial layer with gold electrodes, which results in a 10-fold increase in etch rate with respect to conventional single metal etching. The etch process is investigated and characterized by optical and electrochemical measurements, leading to a theoretical explanation of the observed etch rate based on mass transport. Using this explanation we derive some generic design rules for nanochannel fabrication employing sacrificial metal etching.
Sparreboom
Wouter
W
BIOS, the Lab-on-a-chip Group, MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands.
Eijkel
Jan C T
JC
Bomer
Johan
J
van den Berg
Albert
A
D004566:Electrodes; D008670:Metals; D036103:Nanotechnology
D008670:Metals