Silicon Oxide Sacrificial Etching Technology

Abstract

Sacrificial etching is a substantial step in MEMS or micromachining process, by which patterned thin films are partially released from the substrate surface to make mechanically movable micro structures. Amongst the variations of structural and sacrificial layer combinations including metal-over-polyimide and metal-over-polysilicon, we discuss the most fundamental processing technique of silicon oxide sacrificial release for the surface- and bulk-silicon micromachining, along with a toolbox to prevent the surface stiction problems.