Fabrication of silicon molds for polymer optics

A silicon mold used for structuring polymer microcavities for optical applications is fabricated, using a combination of DRIE (deep reactive ion etching) and anisotropic chemical wet etching with KOH + IPA. For polymer optical microcavities, low surface roughness and vertical sidewalls are often needed. This is achieved by aligning the mold precisely to the [110] direction of a silicon (100) wafer and etching very close to the (110) surfaces using a DRIE Bosch process. The surface roughness of the sidewalls is then removed with a short etch in KOH + IPA. To achieve this, the parameters for DRIE and KOH + IPA etch have been optimized. To reduce stiction between the silicon mold and the polymers used for molding, the mold is coated with a teflon-like material using the DRIE system. Released polymer microstructures characterized with AFM and SEM are also presented.