A multi-probe micro-fabrication apparatus based on the friction-induced fabrication method

Abstract

A novel multi-probe micro-fabrication apparatus was developed based on the friction-induced fabrication method. The main parts of the apparatus include actuating device, loading system, and control system. With a motorized XY linear stage, the maximum fabrication area of 50 mm × 50 mm can be achieved, and the maximum sliding speed of probes can be as high as 10 mm/s. Through locating steel micro balls into indents array, the preparation of multi-probe array can be realized by a simple and low-cost way. The cantilever was designed as a structure of deformable parallelogram with two beams, by which the fabrication force can be precisely controlled. Combining the friction-induced scanning with selective etching in KOH solution, various micro-patterns were fabricated on Si(100) surface without any masks or exposure. As a low-cost and high efficiency fabrication device, the multi-probe micro-fabrication apparatus may encourage the development of friction-induced fabrication method and shed new light on the texture engineering.

Key words： friction-induced fabrication; silicon; surface texture; friction; multi-probe

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful for the financial support from the National Basic Research Program (No. 2011CB707604) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 90923017 and 51175441).

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