Porous silicon bulk micromachining for thermally isolated membrane formation

A novel low thermal budget technique is proposed for the preparation of thermally isolated silicon membranes. The selective formation of porous silicon in a p-type silicon wafer results in an undercut profile below the implanted n-type silicon regions. The sacrificial porous layer is subsequently removed in a dilute KOH solution. A non-stoichiometric LPCVD nitride layer combination forms the suspension of the single-crystalline silicon membranes. This technique eliminates the need for epitaxial substrates and backside alignment, and proves to be very efficient in the realization of a high-temperature micro-hotplate operating with minimum power consumption for the purpose of integrated gas sensors.