Fabrication of multilayer microstructures using dry film resist and deep reactive ion etcher

In this Letter, the authors demonstrate fabrication of multilevel microstructures using inductively coupled plasma deep reactive ion etcher (ICP-DRIE) in conjunction with dry film photoresist (DFR) as etch mask. By limiting the usage of photoresist on the layers, both the chances of introducing contamination as well as wastage of photoresist are reduced. Thus, combining DFR with DRIE in microfabricating of multilevel microstructure has the potential to significantly reduce fabrication time, cost and contamination.