Cryogenic Etching of Silicon: An Alternative Method For Fabrication of Vertical Microcantilever Master Molds.
This paper examines the use of deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) of silicon with fluorine high-density plasmas at cryogenic temperatures to produce silicon master molds for vertical microcantilever arrays used for controlling substrate stiffness for culturing living cells. The resultant profiles achieved depend on the rate of deposition and etching of a SiOxFypolymer, which serves as a passivation layer on the sidewalls of the etched structures in relation to areas that have not been passivated with the polymer. We look at how optimal tuning of two parameters, the O2flow rate and the capacitively coupled plasma (CCP) power, determine the etch profile. All other pertinent parameters are kept constant. We examine the etch profiles produced using e-beam resist as the main etch mask, with holes having diameters of 750 nm, 1 µm, and 2 µm.
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235 USA.
Kweku A
KA
Addae-Mensah
Scott
S
Retterer
Susan R
SR
Opalenik
Darrell
D
Thomas
Nickolay V
NV
Lavrik
John P
JP
Wikswo
BioMEMS; MEMS; PDMS; cryogenic deep reactive ion etching; deep reactiveion etching; vertical microcantilever arrays