The Electrochemical Micro-Fabrication Method for Micro-Scale Flow Channels

Abstract

Due to lack of desirable mechanical properties of silicon substrate; the current trend of micro-fabrication technology is towards metallic materials. In this study, the electrochemical micromachining (EMM) technology is developed to fabricate micro-scale flow channels on thin metallic 316L stainless steel plate. The cathode electrode, the tool, is the mirror image of flow channels. It was produced by the MEMS and UV-LIGA technology and the size is 200μm in width and 500μm in height for the intension to fabricate a serpentine flow channel of 200μm in both depth and width. Because of the electrode size, the process control parameters and geometrical features surpassed conventional and CMOS methods. The flow channels on 0.6mm thick SS 316L plates were fabricated by EMM process within 30 seconds with effective area of 625mm2. The dimensions of flow channel were varying from 1504m to 5004m in width and about 2004m in depth. The results demonstrate the EMM technology produces good quality metallic flow channels efficiently.