Abstract:
A method for protecting a material of a microstructure comprising said material and a noble metal layer against undesired galvanic etching during manufacture comprises forming on the structure a sacrificial metal layer having a lower redox potential than said material, the sacrificial metal layer being electrically connected to said noble metal layer.
Abstract:
A method for producing a semiconductor device that is capable of solving problems related to dicing a metal thin film used for electrochemical etching. According to the method, an n type epitaxial thin layer is formed on a p type single-crystal silicon wafer. An n.sup.+ type diffusion layer is formed in a scribe line area on the epitaxial layer. An n.sup.+ type diffusion layer is formed in an area of the epitaxial layer which corresponds to a predetermined portion of the wafer. An aluminum film is formed over the diffusion layers. The aluminum film has a clearance for passing a dicing blade. Portions of the wafer are electrochemically etched by supplying electricity through the aluminum film and the diffusion layers, to leave portions of the epitaxial layer. The wafer is diced into chips along the scribe line area. Each of the chips forms a separate semiconductor device. The electrochemical etching of the wafer is carried out after the formation of the aluminum film by immersing the wafer in a KOH aqueous solution and by supplying electricity through the aluminum film. The electrochemical etching is terminated at an inflection point where an etching current inflects to a constant level from a peak level. During the electrochemical etching, the diffusion layer reduces horizontal resistance in the epitaxial layer, so that the etched parts receive a sufficient potential to perform the etching.
Abstract:
This invention provides a miniaturized silicon thermal flow sensor with improved characteristics, based on the use of two series of integrated thermocouples (6, 7) on each side of a heater (4), all integrated on a porous silicon membrane (2) on top of a cavity (3). Porous silicon (2) with the cavity (3) underneath provides very good thermal isolation for the sensor elements, so as the power needed to maintain the heater (4) at a given temperature is very low. The formation process of the porous silicon membrane (2) with the cavity (3) underneath is a two-step single electrochemical process. It is based on the fact that when the anodic current is relatively low, we are in a regime of porous silicon formation, while if this current exceeds a certain value we turn into a regime of electropolishing. The process starts at low current to form porous silicon (2) and it is then turned into electropolishing conditions to form the cavity (3) underneath.Various types of thermal sensor devices, such as flow sensors, gas sensors, IR detectors, humidity sensors and thermoelectric power generators are described using the proposed methodology. Furthermore the present invention provides a method for the formation of microfluidic channels (16) using the same technique of porous silicon (17) and cavity (16) formation.
Abstract:
A method for protecting a material of a microstructure comprising said material and a noble metal layer (8) against undesired galvanic etching during manufacture comprises forming on the structure a sacrificial metal layer (12) having a lower redox potential than said material, the sacrificial metal layer (12) being electrically connected to said noble metal layer (8).
Abstract:
The invention relates to a method of electrochemically etching a p-type semiconductor material, characterized by the following steps: a) the application of mask material on a substrate of the p-type semiconductor material; b) the local removal of the mask material; and c) placing the substrate with the mask into a corrosive electrolytic solution while simultaneously applying a current density through the substrate; wherein the current density during step c) is adjusted alternatingly to a high value causing the semiconductor material to be completely etched away, and a low value corroding the semiconductor material such as to become porous.
Abstract:
Disclosed herein is a novel a tunable Micro-Electro-Mechanical (MEMS) Etalon system including: a functional layer patterned to define a suspension structure for suspending a first mirror being an aperture mirror of the Etalon, an aperture mirror coupled to the suspension structure, and a back layer including a second mirror, being a back mirror of the Etalon. The functional layer may be located above the back layer and the back layer may include spacer structures protruding therefrom towards the aperture mirror to define a minimal gap between the aperture mirror and the back mirror and prevent collision between them. The aspect ratio between the width of the etalon/mirrors may be high (e.g. at least 500), and the minimal gap/distance between the mirrors may be small in the order of tens of nanometers (nm). Accordingly, in some implementations the parallelism between the aperture mirror and the back mirror is adjustable to avoid chromatic artifacts associated with spatial variations in the spectral transmission profile across the etalon.
Abstract:
Nanofluidic passages such as nanochannels and nanopores are closed or opened in a controlled manner through the use of a feedback system. An oxide layer is grown or removed within a passage in the presence of an electrolyte until the passage reaches selected dimensions or is closed. The change in dimensions of the nanofluidic passage is measured during fabrication. The ionic current level through the passage can be used to determine passage dimensions. Fluid flow through an array of fluidic elements can be controlled by selective oxidation of fluidic passages between elements.
Abstract:
An inertia force sensor comprising a mass body (11) displaced when a force is applied to the mass body (11), at least one holding beam (12) holding the mass body (11), and a fixing section (13) fixing one end of the holding beam (12) so as to sensing the inertia force acting on the mass body (11) based on the displacement of the mass body (11), characterized in that the mass body (11) has a hollow structure made by removing the inside of a silicon substrate (1) by one process of etching, and the fixing section (13) is at least a part of the main body of the silicon substrate (1). Since the inertia force sensor is made of single crystal silicon, the mechanical characteristics and reliability are greatly imporoved.