The fabrication of nonplanar spin-on glass microstructures

Author

Liu, Robin H. ; Vasile, Michael J. ; Beebe, David J.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Illinois Univ., Urbana, IL, USA

Volume

8

Issue

2

fYear

1999

fDate

6/1/1999 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

146

Lastpage

151

Abstract

This paper presents a new application of spin-on glass to fabricate nonplanar dielectric structures (channel plate microstructures) with aspect ratios (i.e., ratio of channel length to channel width) of 20:1. A variety of microchannel geometries have been fabricated. The LIGA process is used to make nickel molds up to 150 μm in height with mechanically planarized surfaces. Spin-on glass (SOG) is applied to obtain glass structures in nickel molds. A multiple dispensing/drying/curing process was developed resulting in crack-free SOG structures. Reverse electroplating is used to remove the nickel mold and release the glass structures. The resulting freestanding glass microchannel plates (>100 μm in height) demonstrated good electrical properties (400-V/μm breakdown voltage) and good spatial definition

Keywords

LIGA; electroplating; microchannel plates; LIGA; Ni; aspect ratio; curing; dispensing; drying; electroplating; glass microchannel plate; mechanical surface planarization; nickel mold; nonplanar dielectric microstructure; spin-on glass fabrication; Dielectric materials; Etching; Fabrication; Geometry; Glass; Microchannel; Microfluidics; Microstructure; Nickel; Optical devices;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Microelectromechanical Systems, Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1057-7157

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/84.767110

Filename

767110