Claims
- 1. A method for fabricating an ultrananocrystalline diamond (UNCD) cantilever element on a substrate, said method comprising the steps of:depositing a sacrificial release layer on the substrate; depositing an UNCD layer on said sacrificial release layer; depositing a hard mask layer on said UNCD layer; depositing photoresist on said hard mask layer and forming said photoresist in discrete, spaced deposits by photoetching; removing portions of said hard mask layer not disposed beneath said discrete, spaced deposits of photoresist so as to form discrete, spaced deposits of said hard mask layer; removing said discrete, spaced deposits of photoresist and portions of said UNCD layer not disposed beneath said discrete, spaced deposits of said hard mask layer so as to form discrete, spaced UNCD elements disposed on said sacrificial release layer; removing the discrete, spaced deposits of said hard mask layer disposed on respective discrete, spaced UNCD elements; and removing the sacrificial release layer disposed on the substrate for forming each of said discrete, spaced UNCD elements into a cantilever structure.
- 2. The method of claim 1 wherein said sacrificial layer is a layer of SiO2 thermally grown on the substrate.
- 3. The method of claim 2 wherein the step of depositing a hard mask layer includes depositing a layer of SiO2 by means of plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition on said UNCD layer.
- 4. The method of claim 3 wherein the step of forming said photoresist in discrete, spaced deposits includes photolithographic patterning.
- 5. The method of claim 4 wherein the step of removing portions of said hard masked layer not disposed beneath said deposits of photoresist includes reactive ion dry etching.
- 6. The method of claim 5 wherein the step of removing said deposits of photoresists and portions of said UNCD layer not disposed beneath deposits of said hard mask layer includes plasma etching.
- 7. The method of claim 6 wherein the steps of removing the deposits of said hard mask layer and said sacrificial release layer includes HF etching.
Parent Case Info
This is a divisional of application Ser. No. 09/543,992 filed Apr. 6, 2000 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,422,077.
US Referenced Citations (5)