• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
• /
• v.23 no.6
• /
• pp.533-538
• /
• 2014

We fabricated grooved mushroom structures with anisotropic wettability on silicon substrates using basic MEMS processes. The geometry of these grooved mushroom structures could be changed by controlling the additional IPA solution during Si etching by TMAH solution. To understand anisotropic wettability, contact angles (CAs) of hexadecane droplets were measured in the orthogonal and parallel directions to grooved lines. The CA measurement results displayed anisotropic wetting on the grooved mushroom structures. However, specimens with $80{\mu}m$ distance between top layers displayed isotropic and superoleophobic wetting. This study demonstrates that the thickness of the top layer is more critical than the width or height of the ridge when determining the wettability of organic solvent. Despite the wide distance between top layers ($80{\mu}m$), the specimen with a thin top layer (100 nm) showed highly anisotropic wetting and low CA due to the pinning of droplets at the edge of the top layer.