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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 February 2011
We have developed a low temperature, CMOS compatible back-end-of-the-line process of making micrometer scale silicon dioxide tunnels for fluidic sample delivery to nanometer scale CMOS based chemical sensors. The fabrication process for these tunnels involve deposition of silicon dioxide over sacrificial photoresist and removal of the sacrificial resist from small holes opened on the top surface. The fabrication process allows arbitrary tunnel widths, about one micrometer and larger, if the supporting pillars are used. The highest process temperature is 135 C. The fabricated structures are compatible with cleaning steps in strong base or acid solutions and can withstand anneal steps at higher temperatures. It is possible to implement complicated, multilevel chemical sensor and mixer networks where microfluidic tunnels cross over each other by repeating the fabrication sequence.