Released Lithium Niobate Structures on Silicon using the PT-DSE

Project Type:

E241

Date:

June 2021 (all day)

Areas of Interest:

MEMS, structure release

Report:

Released Lithium Niobate Structures on Silicon using the PT-DSE

Processing Technique (former Function and Method):

Patterning

Researchers and (Mentors):

Oliver Hitchcock, Takuma Makihara, (Usha Raghuram), (Tony Ricco), (Mark Zdeblick)

List of Important Equipment:

Plasma Therm Versaline LL ICP Deep Silicon Etcher (PT-DSE)

Nano Nugget:

SOP- Released Structures with the PT-DSE

In this SOP we present a release process that was tested for structures made of aluminum and lithium niobate that are partially masked by SPR-3612, but the process should be applicable to other materials/photoresist, provided they are not etched by SF6.

Read more about SOP- Released Structures with the PT-DSE

Determining etch rates with partially released structures

One can accurately determine horizontal etch rates by looking at unreleased structures with an overhead SEM. However, this will only work with materials that one can see through with the SEM, such as thin film aluminum and similar materials with low atomic number.

Read more about Determining etch rates with partially released structures

Materials

Lithium Niobate