Fabrication of a Si lever structure made by double-angled etching with reactive gas cluster injection

The reactive gas cluster injection process is an etching method that uses a neutral cluster beam without plasma. Low-damage Si etching can be realized with this method because of the very low irradiation energy; the product is free of charge-up problems and vacuum UV light damage. The ClF3–Ar neutral cluster injection system for angled etching was constructed with a nozzle that was placed at 45° from the sample normal. The angled anisotropic Si etching is demonstrated with a high aspect ratio. The lever structure, which is often used in microelectromechanical systems (MEMSs), was fabricated by double-angled etching with reactive gas cluster injection. A simple fabrication process for the lever structure was achieved by double-angled etching with reactive gas cluster injection. These results show that various three-dimensional (3D) structures can be fabricated by repeated anisotropic etching with varying angles and directions. It is expected that the angled anisotropic etching process will enable the creat...