Low cost and simple fabrication of bi-material micro cantilever Array based on MEMS technology

The purpose of this paper is designing a simple fabrication process to construct Al/SiO2 micro cantilever array based on bulk micro-machining technology. By the help of this process, bi-material cantilevers is implemented in a research laboratory with limited facilities. The results of this paper can be considered as the basis of designing and fabricating for Al/SiO2 micro cantilever sensors. Protection of Al in KOH, EDP and TMAH silicon etchant is the biggest technical problem of this type of micro cantilevers using bulk micromachining technique. In this method, Dual doped TMAH is used to fabricate micro cantilever. This process is realized with three single sides and one-double side lithography processes using two-chrome metal and one plastic transparent photomasks. Complexity of releasing the sacrificial layer is avoided using wet releasing of micro cantilever at ambient temperature. Then, Al/SiO2 micro cantilever array is fabricated with 50, 100, 150, 200, 250, 300, 350 and 400μm lengths, 20 and 40μm widths and 1μm and 200nm thickness for SiO2 and Al, respectively.