Abstract
We developed circular cell-culture membranes which are made of SiN (silicon nitride) films of 1 μm in thickness and have multiple square or circular holes of several micrometers in size. The membranes were fabricated using SiN film formation with PECVD (plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition) and anisotropic wet etching of silicon with a surfactant-added TMAH (tetramethylammonium hydroxide) solution. Mechanical properties of the membranes were evaluated using a bulge test, and it was found that a circular membrane with circular holes has much larger fracture strength than a square membrane with square holes. Also, we demonstrated that optical transmittance of the membranes decreases with decreasing size of microholes and increasing porosity of the membranes, which gives useful design rules for their practical applications to cell culturing.
