title: Single-anchor support and supercritical CO2 drying enable high-precision microfabrication of three-dimensional structures.
abstract: In high-precision two-photon microfabrication of three-dimensional (3-D) polymeric microstructures, supercritical CO(2) drying was employed to reduce surface tension, which tends to cause the collapse of micro/nano structures. Use of supercritical drying allowed high-aspect ratio microstructures, such as micropillars and cantilevers, to be fabricated. We also propose a single-anchor supporting method to eliminate non-uniform shrinkage of polymeric structures otherwise caused by attachment to the substrate. Use of this method permitted frame models such as lattices to be produced without harmful distortion. The combination of supercritical CO(2) drying and the single-anchor supporting method offers reliable high-precision microfabrication of sophisticated, fragile 3-D micro/nano structures.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Yokohama National University, 79-5 Tokiwadai, Hodogaya-ku, Yokohama 240-8501, Japan. maruo@ynu.ac.jp
authors.forename: Shoji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Maruo
authors.forename: Takuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hasegawa
authors.forename: Naoki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yoshimura
mesh_terms: D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000737:chemistry*; D003460:Crystallization; D008027:Light; D055616:Microtechnology; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods; D055095:Optics and Photonics; D010777:Photochemistry / Q000379:methods; D017785:Photons; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D011108:Polymers; D002245:Carbon Dioxide