Surface micromachining

Among the many different fabrication techniques of microsystem technology, surface micromachining is most promising and developing fast. The 3D UV-microforming technique described here is of great interest because it fulfills the technological demands in a low-cost manner. Based on well-established processes, the method combines UV lithographic patterning of thick photoresist layers and a molding technique for the resulting resist patterns by electrodeposition. Both the UV lithography and the electrodeposition do not require any expensive or special equipment. 3D UV-microforming combines the simple manageability of optical photo-sensitive resist patterning with the advantage of large structure heights, otherwise only achieved by X-ray exposures or dry-etching methods.