• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2004.10a
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• pp.351-354
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• 2004

This work presents a simple and cost-effective approach for maskless fabrication of positive-tone silicon master for the replica molding of hyperfine elastomeric channel. Positive-tone silicon masters were fabricated by a maskless fabrication technique using the combination of nanoscratch by Nanoindenter ⓡ XP and XOH wet etching. Grooves were machined on a silicon surface coated with native oxide by ductile-regime nanoscratch, and they were etched in a 20 wt％ KOH solution. After the KOH etching process, positive-tone structures resulted because of the etch-mask effect of the amorphous oxide layer generated by nanoscratch. The size and shape of the positive-tone structures were controlled by varying the etching time (5, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30 min) and the normal loads (1, 5 mN) during nanoscratch. Moreover, the effects of the Berkovich tip alignment (0, 45$^{\circ}$) on the deformation behavior and etching characteristic of silicon material were investigated.