Etching process plays a major role in fabrication of Microdevices such as Micro-sensors, actuators and microfluidic systems. These miniaturized Microfluidic devices have made a significant progress in bio-medical fields such as DNA analysis, gnome analysis and also for other diagnosis applications. Glass is popularly used in the development of these devices due to its unique properties like high durability, good optical transparency and heat resistant. This paper discusses the combination of thin Gold and thick electroplated Copper layers to enhance the efficiency of the masking layer for glass wet etching. The 500 µm wide micro-channels are created on borosilicate glass using photolithography, Copper plating and glass wet etching process. The electroplated copper layer provides a uniform, precise and well-defined glass etching profile with very minimal lateral etch. The use of copper mask layer makes this process cost efficient for various applications. A low concentration (20%) of Hydrofluoric acid along with Hydrochloric acid (10%) was used as the glass etchant for minimizing the roughness of etched glass surface and to better control the etch profile. The etched glass profile was characterized using confocal microscope to determine the etch depth, lateral etch. The channel depth of 591 µm with etch rate of 1.87 µm/min is obtained.

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Electroplated Copper Mask Based Glass Wet Etching for Development of Microfluidic Device

  • Megha Agrawal,
  • S. Mahalakshmi,
  • Anila Puthoor,
  • K. M. Varshini

摘要

Etching process plays a major role in fabrication of Microdevices such as Micro-sensors, actuators and microfluidic systems. These miniaturized Microfluidic devices have made a significant progress in bio-medical fields such as DNA analysis, gnome analysis and also for other diagnosis applications. Glass is popularly used in the development of these devices due to its unique properties like high durability, good optical transparency and heat resistant. This paper discusses the combination of thin Gold and thick electroplated Copper layers to enhance the efficiency of the masking layer for glass wet etching. The 500 µm wide micro-channels are created on borosilicate glass using photolithography, Copper plating and glass wet etching process. The electroplated copper layer provides a uniform, precise and well-defined glass etching profile with very minimal lateral etch. The use of copper mask layer makes this process cost efficient for various applications. A low concentration (20%) of Hydrofluoric acid along with Hydrochloric acid (10%) was used as the glass etchant for minimizing the roughness of etched glass surface and to better control the etch profile. The etched glass profile was characterized using confocal microscope to determine the etch depth, lateral etch. The channel depth of 591 µm with etch rate of 1.87 µm/min is obtained.