Fabrication of a novel microcantilever probe with inverted pyramidal microdischarge for maskless scanning plasma etching

This paper presents a novel maskless microplasma etching method based on scanning probe microscopy. That is, an inverted pyramidal microdischarge is integrated into a hollow tip of a SiO₂ cantilever probe, and the generated microplasmas are ejected through the nano -aperture to realize maskless etching with nano -resolution and high efficiency. The SiO₂ cantilever with microdischarge and nano-aperture at the hollow tip is designed and successfully fabricated with good quality. Experiment results show that the devices can discharge in SF₆ gas stably. The electrical and optical characteristics of the microdischarge in SF₆ at the pressure of 3kPa~15kPa are obtained. The simulation result of etching mechanism verifies the feasibility of silica-based material maskless etching.