Study of deep silicon etching for micro-gyroscope fabrication

Deep silicon etching technique can offer many advantages in microelectromechanical system (MEMS) fabrication because of its high etch rate, high aspect ratio and high anisotropic etching behavior comparing with the conventional reactive ion etching technique. In this study, the deep reactive ion etcher produced by Surface Technology Systems Limited (STS, UK) has been used to fabricate the micro-gyroscope. The effects of feature size of the structure, platen power and process pressure on etch rate and reactive ion etching lag have been studied. Micro-gyroscope has been fabricated by using the optimum etching conditions.