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>
> Dear Mems experts
>
> I have two visiting students from Germany who are
> making ultrathin SiN force microscope cantilevers,
> of order 350-800 Angstroms thick and up to 200
> microns long.
>
> The last stage of the process is an anisotropic
> etch in KOH to free the cantilevers from the
> underlying silicon, followed by critical point
> drying in C02.
>
> During the etch, the Si bubbles like crazy,
> to the extend that we are surprised that the
> cantilevers even survive!
>
> Survive they do, however we would like
> to suppress the bubbling if possible.  Can
> anyone offer any suggestions?  We apologize
> if this is a well-know problem with a well
> known solution.... it is only well known
> to those who know it well (which is not us!)
>
> Best wishes from a fan of MEMS ... John Sidles
>
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