Glass Molding for Microstructures

Abstract

This work proposes a glass molding technology for fabricating microstructures. In this method, a relatively higher pressure provided by the thermal decomposition of foaming agents at high temperatures replaces the atmospheric pressure in glass reflow process, which brings about microfabrication ability improvement. A silicon–glass-silicon stack wafer is formed by anodic bonding. The middle borosilicate glass (Type: Borofloat® 33) is driven into the cavities on the mold silicon wafer at high temperatures, forming microstructures. Using this glass molding technology, we have successfully demonstrated a wide variety of glass microstructures including rings, tuning forks, gears, etc.