Fabrication of 3D microstructures and microactuators on (100) SOI wafer using the DAWN process

This study has successfully demonstrated a DRIE assisted wet anisotropic bulk micromachining (DAWN process) to fabricate various three-dimensional MEMS devices on SOI wafer. The DAWN process can offer thin film structure, reinforced (thin film) structure, and thick structure with totally different mechanical characteristics. The thin film structure has small stiffness and mass, whereas the thick structure has large stiffness and mass. The reinforced structure has small mass but large stiffness. Since these structures can be fabricated and integrated using the DAWN process, various applications become available.