MEMS | ARTICLE
many thousands of replicated cavities each having the pattern of the blocks and the cantilever. Then we could grow the switch components by electroplating them into the mould cavity. We would leave a thin mold wall representing the switch gap — since the gap needed to be only a few micrometers wide, the dimensional precision of DXRL and its high aspect ratio would be vital.
There was a downside to the DXRL approach though. The technique uses X-ray mask exposure, and the need for a high aspect ratio demands a highly collimated (parallel) beam of X-rays. Such a high degree of collimation can only be achieved using X-rays produced by a synchrotron, an exotic device that whirls electrons in a circular orbit so close to the speed of light that as they accelerate they give up energy by emitting high energy X-rays. That meant sending off our masked, polymer-coated wafers to a synchrotron facility for exposure, a method that is ill suited for mass production, even though it had yielded excellent prototype switches.
<< Figure 3: Comparison of the DXRL and UV photolithographic micro fabrication techniques. >>
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A member of SPGPrints Group 39 | commercial micro manufacturing international Vol 7 No.1
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