Study on three-dimensional micromachining using synchrotron radiation etching

 In this paper, we proposed a new approach of three-dimensional (3-D) micromachining without using any masks. This approach is a direct writing using synchrotron radiation (SR) etching. Several approaches to fabricate 3-D microstructures using photo-lithography have been proposed. However, these approaches are limited to fabricate microstructures due to the using mask process. SR etching is a dry process, and the etching rate of PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene) is so high (100 μm/min) in vacuum using the SR white light. By utilizing a high processing speed and smoothness of the etched surfaces, SR etching might have a potential for 3-D micromachining by combining the direct writing with a stage having a high degree of freedom. Here, we reported the results of 3-D micromachining of PTFE using SR etching in vacuum and examined the dependence of SR etching of PTFE on the etching environment under an atmospheric pressure of He. Received: 10 August 2001/Accepted: 24 September 2001 This paper was presented at the Fourth International Workshop on High Aspect Ratio Microstructure Technology HARMST 2001 in June 2001.