Abstract
This work reports a batch fabrication process for silicon nanometer tip based on isotropic inductively coupled plasma (ICP) etching technology. The silicon tips with nanometer apex and small surface roughness are produced at wafer-level with good etching homogeneity and repeatability. An ICP etching routine is developed to make silicon tips with apex radius less than 5 nm, aspect ratio greater than 5 at a tip height of 200 nm, and tip height more than 10 μm, and high fabrication yield is achieved by mask compensation and precisely controlling lateral etch depth, which is significant for large-scale manufacturing.
Highlights
Nanometer tips, as core components of scanning probe microscopy (SPM) probes, field emission tips, microneedle arrays, etc., are widely used in material surface analysis, bio-engineering, high density data storage and micro-processing [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13]
Depositing materials directly onto a cantilever or a pyramid using vapor-liquid-solid (VLS), focused ion beam (FIB) or focused electron-beam-induced deposition can realize fine needle tips, but the cost for individual growth is too high and fabrication process is too long, which limits the scale of production
After removal of oxide layer by buffered hydrogen fluoride (BHF), the tip height and diameter were examined by scanning electron microscope (SEM) (FEI, Hillsboro, OR, USA)
Summary
As core components of scanning probe microscopy (SPM) probes, field emission tips, microneedle arrays, etc., are widely used in material surface analysis, bio-engineering, high density data storage and micro-processing [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13]. The back-filling technique involves etching a tip-like groove on a substrate firstly and depositing a thin film to obtain a hollow tip It can make tips from various functional materials at a wafer level, but it is hard to achieve tips with high aspect ratio and small apex radius. Maskheight compensation and precisely controlling the etch etching approach for “rocket tips” with greater than 10 μm [36,37,38], the design ofprocedure ultra-small showed a dramatic improvement of homogeneity and repeatability, which is a valid method for masks for tips with aspect ratios larger than 5 but small height (less than μm). All large-scale these approaches have difficulties in batch fabrication of high-end tips due to the complicated process, the strict mask preparation, and low yield. Lithography was performed to define the tip apex, and the silicon substrate was isotropically dry
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