Supercritical dry: View

on front Supercritical dry

Process characteristics:

Feature geometry

Shape of feature with dimensions characterized by the minimum feature size

Min feature size

Smallest feature in structure to be dried.

unconstrained

Sides processed

either

Equipment

Comments:

These processes are typically used to dry delicate free-standing MEMS structures. The basic idea is to remove the liquid used to etch and rinse the structure without subjecting the structures to capillary forces associated with evaporation of liquid. The rinsing liquid is replaced with another liquid, which is then frozen solid and sublimated (direct phase transition from solid to gas state) to avoid any liquid evaporation. These processes are very useful to avoid stiction in MEMS structures.