Fabrication and properties of PZT micro cantilevers using isotropic silicon dry etching process by XeF2 gas for release process

Abstract Fabrication processes of PZT micro cantilevers using isotropic silicon dry etching process by XeF 2 gas of front side were newly proposed and investigated. The purpose of study was to compare the proposed processes using only front side for release process of PZT micro cantilevers with conventional processes using bulk silicon micromachining of backside, and so on. In case of the proposed method, it was not necessary to use double side aligner, and wet chemical solutions and other protection jigs for silicon bulk micromachining of backside. During release process using isotropic silicon dry etching by XeF 2 gas, patterned 1.2 μm-thick photo-resist film layers were used for protective film on upper Pt electrode and PZT film. Degradation of properties of PZT films after release process using XeF 2 gas was not found. In case of operating at 3.9 V and 1.9 kHz of fabricated PZT micro cantilevers with 650 μm length by 100 μm width, these were actuated with resonant and vibrated up to the width of 125.9 μm. Consequently, microstructures and electromechanical properties of PZT micro cantilever by new proposed method were compatible to other conventional methods. It was thought that proposed processes were more cost effective, stable and mass productive than other reported processes.