Simultaneous Fabrication of Very High Aspect Ratio Positive Nano- to Milliscale Structures

A simple and inexpensive technique for the simultaneous fabrication of positive (i.e., protruding), very high aspect (>10) ratio nanostructures together with micro- or millistructures is developed. The method involves using residual patterns of thiin-film over-etching (RPTO) to produce sub-micro-/nanoscale features. The residual thin-film nanopattern is used as an etching mask for Si deep reactive ion etching. The etched Si structures are further reduced in size by Si thermal oxidation to produce amorphous SiO2, which is subsequently etched away by HE Two arrays of positive Si nanowalls are demonstrated with, this combined RPTO-SiO2-HF technique. One array has a feature size of 150 run and an aspect ratio of 26.7 and another has a feature size of 50nm and an aspect ratio of 15. No other parallel reduction. technique can achieve such a very high aspect ratio for 50-nm-wide nanowalls. As a demonstration of the technique to simultaneously achieve nano- and milliscale features, a simple Si nanofluidic master mold with positive features with dimensions varying continuously from 1 mm. to 200nm and a highest aspect ratio of 6.75 is fabricated; the narrow 200-nm section is 4.5 mm long. This Si master mold is then used as a mold for UV embossing. The embossed open channels are then closed by a cover with glue bonding. A high aspect ratio is necessary to produce unblocked closed channels after the cover bonding process of the nano-fluidic c,hip. The combined method of RPTO, Si thermal oxidation, and HF etching can, be used to make complex nanofluidic systems and nano-/micro-/ millistructures for diverse applications.