Deep wet etching-through 1mm pyrex glass wafer for microfluidic applications

Abstract

This paper addresses the main issues related to wet micromachining of one of the mostly used BioMEMS materials - glass - and proposes two optimized solutions for deep wet etching. As a result, 500 mum-thick Pyrex glass wafer was etched using an etching mask consisting of low stress amorphous silicon (a: Si) and photoresist. Moreover we report the successful through etching of 1 mm Pyrex glass wafer using a combination of low stress a: Si/SiC/photoresist mask.