Custom Capabilities
Using custom fabrication to meet your needs, we fulfill custom membrane fabrication requests for a wide range of applications.
Popular Custom Solutions
We offer services ranging from genomic and photonic biosensors and microfluidic cell culture to protein and nanoparticle separations and high resolution, environmental electron, and x-ray microscopy. Below are some of our most popular custom solutions.
Silicon Wafer Specifications
- 100, 200, 300 micron thick, with other thicknesses and CZ/FZ grown options
- 100 mm (4-inch) diameter
- 150 mm (6-inch) diameter
Custom Mask Design & Mask Printing
- Feature size resolution to 350 nanometers (line/space resolution)
- Minimum membrane window size typically ~5 microns
- Maximum membrane window size (based on film) up to 25 mm x 25 mm
Front-to-back Alignment Lithography
- Front-to-back tolerance +/-5 microns or better (+/-20 microns for 150 mm)
- Pores down to 500 nm can be etched in suspended membranes
- Orientation or identification marks can be etched into the suspended membrane or over support silicon to reduce interference with imaging
Metal Deposition
- Deposition of aluminum, palladium, and gold (50 to 200 nm thicknesses)
- Deposition of an adhesive layer of titanium, chrome, etc.
- Features to less than 10 microns with alignment to membrane windows within +/-5 microns
Device Packaging
- Devices are typically separated from the supporting wafer and packaged in transparent gel boxes for ease of handling and viewing
- All devices are individually inspected under light microscopy
- Devices can also be designed with continuous films for spin coating that can be later dissected along scribe lines by the customer
- Die singulation via multiple dicing processes
Chemical Vapor Deposition
- Monolayer vapor phase deposition
- Range of salinization and alternative chemical modalities
- Thin film characterization services and testing
Popular Membrane Materials
While we will custom-create any substrate for your needs, we most often find ourselves working with these popular membrane materials.
Pure Silicon
- Amorphous, Single Crystal, or Nanocrystalline
- Sputter deposited 5 to 50 nm thick
- Nanocrystalline films are nanoporous with tunable pore sizes from 5 to 75 mm
Silicon Dioxide
- Amorphous silicon dioxide
- G-FLAT™ exclusive ultra-flat oxide
- Thermal, Sputter, or PECVD deposition
- Thicknesses from 20 to 4000 nm
Silicon Nitride
- Amorphous silicon nitride
- LPCVD Low stress – tunable
- Thicknesses from 5 to 2000 nm
- Ultra-flat suspended membranes