Step height measurement of surface-functionalized micro-machined micro-cantilever by scanning white light interferometry

Micro-cantilever arrays with different dimensions are fabricated by micro-machining technique onto a silicon<100>substrate. These sputtered gold-coated micro-cantilevers were later surface-functionalized. Scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy (AFM), and optical diffraction using a laser source are employed to characterize the morphology and image measurement of the micro-cantilever arrays. The spatial resolution produced in the proposed image measurement method is approaching 1mm, and the repeatable precision is nanometer confirmable. Compared with conventional AFM and SPM measurement techniques, the proposed method has demonstrated sufficient flexibility, repeatability, and reliability. The experimental results have been analyzed and presented in this paper for microelectromechanical system (MEMS) micro-cantilevers. The scanning white light interferometry-based two-point high-resolution optical method is presented for characterizing micro-cantilevers and other MEMS micro-structures. In this letter, we investigate the microstructure fabrication and image measurement of length, width, and step height of micro cantilever arrays fabricated using bulk micro-machining technique onto a silicon<100> substrate.