A novel approach to realize arrays of out of plane micro needles is given. The exterior shape of the micro needles is realized by dry etching using a RIE. The exterior shape is realized in silicon by dry etching using a SF₆ and Argon plasma that achieve the progressive etching of the mask composed by silicon nitride and photoresist. The needles realized present an outer diameter of 900 nm for a height of about 7 microns. The needle is then realized by wet oxidation using a thin film of silicon nitride to perform a LOCOS at the end of the needle. The last step consists in selectively etch the Si₃N₄ and the silicon inside the needle by xenon difluoride.

Date Published: 14 November 2002
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 4937, Biomedical Applications of Micro- and Nanoengineering, (14 November 2002); doi: 10.1117/12.473962

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 4937:
Biomedical Applications of Micro- and Nanoengineering
Dan V. Nicolau, Editor(s)