A Multifunctional Vertical Microsieve for Micro and Nano Particles Separation

This paper presents the design, fabrication and characterization of a new concept of microsieves with vertical nano-perforated walls. A new approach is applied to realize these walls accurately without sophisticated or non-conventional lithography while preserving IC-compatibility. By simply changing the deposition and etch time in the fabrication process, different pore size microsieves are fabricated. Further, by combining several walls with specific design modifications, a range of functionalities (filtration, separation, anti-choking, etc) can be integrated on one chip. Microsieves with 100 nm and 1 mum pore size are fabricated. Separation and antichoking functionalities are successfully demonstrated.