Measurements of silicon dry-etching rates and profiles in MEMS foundries and their application to MEMS design software

Deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) is an important tool in MEMS fabrication to achieve three-dimensional structures. However, the etching profiles are not yet perfect. We had etching test samples fabricated in three MEMS foundries and measured the etching rates, sidewall angles, mask selectivity, and sidewall roughness against the line and space of 2 to 5000 μm. We also performed similar DRIE processes using our system and compared our samples and the samples from the foundries. The measurement results revealed the typical fabrication results in the MEMS foundries and their differences. The data were included in the database of MemsONE, a newly developed MEMS design software, and can be used for the process emulations.