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A measurement free pre-etched pattern to identify the <110> directions on Si{110} wafer

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Abstract

In this paper, we present a self-aligning pre-etched pattern based technique to precisely determine the <110> direction on Si{110} wafer surface. These patterns after etching, reveals the crystallographic direction by self-aligning itself in a straight line at the <110> direction while getting self-misaligned at other directions. As a result, the exact direction can be identified by a simple visual inspection under a microscope without the need of measurement of any kind. To test the accuracy of the proposed method, we fabricated two 32 mm long channels, one oriented along the <110> direction and other along the <112> directions using the <110> direction obtained from the proposed method as the reference. The undercutting is measured at different locations on the two channels and is found to vary within a submicron range in each case. Such uniform undercutting implies that the presented technique to determine the <110> direction is accurate. This methodology is simple and can be used conveniently to fabricate MEMS structures with high dimensional accuracy.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by research grant from the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR, Ref: 03(1320)/14/EMR-II), New Delhi, India.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad, Kandi, Sangareddy, India

    S. S. Singh & A. K. Pandey

  2. Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad, Kandi, Sangareddy, India

    V. N. Avvaru, S. Veerla & P. Pal

Authors
  1. S. S. Singh
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  2. V. N. Avvaru
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  3. S. Veerla
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  4. A. K. Pandey
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  5. P. Pal
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Correspondence to S. S. Singh or P. Pal.

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Singh, S.S., Avvaru, V.N., Veerla, S. et al. A measurement free pre-etched pattern to identify the <110> directions on Si{110} wafer. Microsyst Technol 23, 2131–2137 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-016-2984-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-016-2984-2

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