A novel single-chip fabrication technique for three-dimensional MEMS structures

A novel single-chip fabrication technique for three-dimensional (3D) MEMS structures is proposed and realized. It includes four main steps, meshes formation, sacrificial layer etching, bulk silicon etching and meshes covered by deposition. The size of the meshes is optimized to meet all requirements, the flow rate of the etchant and of the bubbles produced from bulk etching and the membrane stiffness. Some 3D structures with membrane suspended on the deep cavities are fabricated in single-chip by this technique. The results show that this technique is very simple and promising to fabricate a single-chip integrated microflow system.