NEMS by Sidewall Transfer Lithography

Author

Dixi Liu ; Syms, Richard R. A.

Author_Institution

Eng. & Electron. Eng. Dept., Imperial Coll. of London, London, UK

Volume

23

Issue

6

fYear

2014

fDate

Dec. 2014

Firstpage

1366

Lastpage

1373

Abstract

A batch fabrication process for nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) based on sidewall transfer lithography (STL) is demonstrated. The STL is used to form nanoscale flexible silicon suspensions entirely by conventional photolithography. A two-step process for combining microscale and nanoscale features is used to fabricate double-ended and single-ended electrothermal actuators with a minimum feature width of 100 nm and an aspect ratio of 40:1. All devices are fabricated by deep reactive ion etching in 4.5-μm-thick silicon using bonded silicon-on-insulator material. The process could allow low cost fabrication of nanoscale sensors and actuators.

Keywords

elemental semiconductors; microactuators; nanoelectromechanical devices; photolithography; silicon-on-insulator; sputter etching; NEMS; STL; Si; batch fabrication process; bonded silicon-on-insulator material; deep reactive ion etching; electrothermal actuators; microscale features; nanoelectromechanical systems; nanoscale actuators; nanoscale features; nanoscale flexible silicon suspensions; nanoscale sensors; photolithography; sidewall transfer lithography; size 100 nm; size 4.5 mum; Actuators; Etching; Lithography; Nanoelectromechanical systems; Nanoscale devices; Silicon; Suspensions; Nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS); sidewall transfer lithography (STL); sidewall transfer lithography (STL).;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Microelectromechanical Systems, Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1057-7157

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JMEMS.2014.2313462

Filename

6784306