4785.2:
High aspect ratio, deep sub-micrometer patterning of polymers with high energy ion beams
Abstract
The objective of this project is to explore the possibilities of using a focused high-energy ion beam (H and He nuclei, 0.7-3.7MeV) for creating high aspect ratio microstructure with sub-micrometer resolution. This technique, hereafter called IB-LIGA, is complementary to other LIGA technologies that are using X-rays (X-LIGA) or UV light (UV-LIGA). There are two potential advantages of IB-LIGA compared to the conventional techniques: a) The ions have a well-defined range of penetration that is proportional to the energy. Therefore, in contrary to other X-ray and UV exposure, multilevel structure can easily patterned, b) IB-LIGA is a maskless technique with very high lateral resolution and excellent collimation. Since no-mask is required, this is perfectly suited for rapid tooling of LIGA moulds.
The industrial partner (Mimotec SA, Sion) is a world pioneer company specialized in UV-LIGA technology. The company is planning to provide benchmarking applications and foresee industrial use of the IB-LIGA technology in its micromoulds and metal micro-parts products.
An other important impact of this project - development of three dimensional nondestructive elemental analysis, providing simultaneous measurements and profiling of almost all elements with nanometer depth resolution and sub-micrometer lateral resolution, will have a direct application in (sub)microelectronic industry. This will strengthen the position of CAFI at EICN as service center for IB analytical techniques.