Novel electroforming process of metal microstructures by using shielded anode

Rapid growth of MEMS calls for metal microstructures with complex features whose fabrication has become a real challenge. Current microfabrication processes (such as bulk and surface micromachining and LIGA) have some limitations in materials and structure geometries. This paper presents a novel electroforming process which has the potential of fabricating complex, high-aspect-ratio metal microstructures. In this paper, shielded anode, which has micro features of SU-8 photoresist patterned by UV source, is employed to confine the region of electrodeposition. The cathode moves along a specific trajectory depends on the contour of the required structure in a number of incontinuous steps. The principle and procedure are discussed in detail and the relative technologies are introduced. Experiments demonstrate its feasibility. Micro gear with vertical sidewall and micro cross structure with slanting profile are fabricated successfully.