Anisotropic Etching of Silicon as a Tool for Creating Injection Molding Tooling Surfaces

• Published in: Journal of microelectromechanical systems Vol. 15; no. 6; pp. 1671 - 1680
• Main Authors: Werkmeister, J., Gosalvez, M.A., Willoughby, P., Slocum, A.H., Sato, K.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY IEEE 01.12.2006; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Alignment; Anisotropic etching; Anisotropic magnetoresistance; Anisotropy; atomistic simulation; Chemical processes; Computer simulation; Etching; Exact sciences and technology; Fabrication; Injection molding; Instruments, apparatus, components and techniques common to several branches of physics and astronomy; Kinetic theory; Masks; Mechanical instruments, equipment and techniques; Microinjection; Micromechanical devices and systems; micromolding; Monte Carlo methods; Physics; Silicon; Tooling; Virtual manufacturing; wafer alignment; Wafer bonding; Wet etching; micromolding; Anisotropic etching; Chemical etching; Experimental study; Tooling; Alignment; Monte Carlo methods; atomistic simulation; Atomistic model; Injection molding; Modelling; Silicon; wafer alignment; Microelectromechanical device; Production process
• ISSN: 1057-7157; 1941-0158
• DOI: 10.1109/JMEMS.2006.885989

To improve the fidelity of the microinjection molding process, research is underway to implement silicon inserts as tooling surfaces in an injection molding machine. These tooling surfaces are created using typical microfabrication processes, such as bonding and chemical etching. The primary focus of this paper is the evaluation of anisotropic wet etching of off-axis silicon wafers, including experimental results and simulations. A method is presented for the determination of the lang110rang direction and subsequent alignment of the mask with an accuracy of 0.01deg. The use of atomistic kinetic Monte Carlo simulations reveals the extreme importance of proper alignment between the mask features and the off-axis wafer. As an example application, the fabrication steps and corresponding simulations of a silicon insert for the manufacture of disposable plastic razors are presented