R W Johnstone et al 2008 J. Micromech. Microeng. 18 115012 doi:10.1088/0960-1317/18/11/115012
R W Johnstone, I G Foulds and M Parameswaran
Show affiliationsThis paper explains the idea of self-sacrificial surface micromachining. In a self-sacrificial process, there is no distinction between structural and sacrificial layers. Instead, during patterning, an in situ chemical change converts a structural material into a sacrificial material, or vice versa. This greatly increases the design space of a self-sacrificial process when compared to a traditional process with the same number of layers, as all layers can be used simultaneously for both structural and sacrificial purposes. To show the possibility of self-sacrificial surface micromachining, a concrete implementation was developed using poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) as the material. Unexposed PMMA, with a high average molecular weight, was used as the structural material. Exposed PMMA, with a lower average molecular weight, was used as the sacrificial material. The in situ chemical change was caused by deep-UV irradiation at 254 nm.
61.80.Ba Ultraviolet, visible, and infrared radiation effects (including laser radiation)
Soft matter, liquids and polymers
Issue 11 (November 2008)
Received 18 April 2008, in final form 29 August 2008
Published 26 September 2008
R W Johnstone et al 2008 J. Micromech. Microeng. 18 115012
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