Deep and vertical silicon bulk micromachining using metal assisted chemical etching

In this paper, a newfound and simple silicon bulk micromachining process based on metal-assisted chemical etching (MaCE) is proposed which opens a whole new field of research in MEMS technology. This method is anisotropic and by controlling the etching parameters, deep vertical etching, relative to substrate surface, can be achieved in micrometer size for 〈1 0 0〉 oriented Si wafer. By utilizing gold as a catalyst and a photoresist layer as the single mask layer for etching, 60 µm deep gyroscope micromachined structures have been fabricated for 2 µm features. The results indicate that MaCE could be the only wet etching method comparable to conventional dry etching recipes in terms of achievable etch rate, aspect ratio, verticality and side wall roughness. It also does not need a vacuum chamber and the other costly instruments associated with dry etching techniques.