Ryan Turner et al 2003 J. Micromech. Microeng. 13 367 doi:10.1088/0960-1317/13/3/303
Ryan Turner1, Yohannes Desta2, Kevin Kelly1, Jian Zhang1, Emil Geiger1, Steve Cortez1 and Derrick C Mancini3
Show affiliationsThe standard LIGA process takes advantage of the use of x-ray lithography to produce mold inserts with nearly vertical sidewall; the typical slope of patterns produced by x-ray lithography of polymethylmethacrylate is 0.1%. This lack of significant taper (draft angle) greatly increases the difficulty associated with ejecting parts during demolding. In this paper, a procedure is described to fabricate a mold insert with tapered features having a height of approximately 1 mm and lateral dimensions of approximately 300 μm. A set of six oblique exposures of a thick layer of SU-8 (an EPON epoxy based negative tone resist) is used to create hexagonal posts with a 3° draft angle. An electroforming process is used to fabricate a nickel mold insert with the tapered features. This mold insert is used to injection mold tapered polymer high aspect ratio microstructures. The dimensions of the SU-8 tapered structures (as well as the mold insert) are within 4 μm of desired/predicted values.
81.20.Hy Forming; molding, extrusion etc.
85.85.+j Micro- and nano-electromechanical systems (MEMS/NEMS) and devices
Soft matter, liquids and polymers
Issue 3 (May 2003)
Received 11 November 2002, in final form 28 January 2003
Published 24 February 2003
Ryan Turner et al 2003 J. Micromech. Microeng. 13 367
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