Polydimethylglutarimide (PMGI) as a structural material for surface micromachining

Abstract

This work investigates the use of polydimethylglutarimide, or PMGI, as a structural material for surface micromachining. PMGI is a commercially available, positive-toned deep-UV resist designed for use in bi-layer lift-off techniques. This paper presents a technique for the microfabrication of free-standing PMGI structures, and uses those structures to extract the coefficient of thermal expansion and Young's modulus for PMGI. Our study found PMGI's coefficient of thermal expansion to be 56 ± 6 ppm °C−1 and Young's modulus to be 5.0 ± 0.5 GPa. Active structures were also fabricated by including a patterned metal layer. This allows the fabrication of active devices, such as bent-beam actuators. PMGI is a commercially available polymer being used in micromachining, and this paper provides the first report of its thermo-mechanical properties.