Advanced micromachine fabrication using ion implantation

Ion-implantation followed by etching was used to fabricate micromachine com ponents from bulk silicon. The size of the ion-modified region was sufficie ntly small to make microdevices (e.g. devices with submicrometer dimensions ). Ion implantation/etching techniques have the advantages of high controll ability, high selectivity and non-thermal processing. For 3.1 MeV gold ions implanted into silicon to a dose of 1 x 10(17) cm(-2), microcantilever bea ms were fabricated with a Young's modulus of 60 GPa and a surface resistanc e of 36 k Omega. The elastic property was lower than conventional materials used for making microdevices, and the electrical resistance was sufficient ly low that such components can be used as electrical conductors. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.