Bulk micromachining is a process used to produce micromachinery or MEMS. Micromachines are mechanical objects that are fabricated in the same general manner as integrated circuits. ... Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) is the technology of the very small, and merges at the nanoscale into Nanoelectromechanical Systems (NEMS) and Nanotechnology. ...

Unlike surface micromachining, which uses a succession of thin film deposition and selective etching, bulk micromachining defines structures by selectively etching inside a substrate. Whereas surface micromachining creates structures on top of a substrate, bulk micromachining produces structures inside a substrate. Surface micromachining is a process used to produce micromachinery or MEMS. Unlike Bulk micromachining, where a silicon substrate (wafer) is selectively etched to produces structures, surface micromachining is based on the deposition and etching of different structural layers. ... Thin-film optics is the branch of optics which deals with very thin structured layers of different materials. ...

Most of the time, silicon wafers are used as substrates for bulk micromachining, for its anisotropic properties are used to wet etch structures. Wet etching typically uses alkaline liquid solvents, such as Potassium hydroxide (KOH), to dissolve silicon which has been left exposed by the photolithography masking step. These alkali solvents dissolve the silicon in a highly anisotropic way, with some crystallograpic orientations dissolving up to 1000 times faster than others. Such an approach is often used with very specific crystallographic orientations in the raw silicon to produce v-shaped grooves. The surface of these grooves can be atomically smooth if the etch is carried out correctly with dimensions and angles being extremely accurate. General Name, Symbol, Number silicon, Si, 14 Chemical series metalloids Group, Period, Block 14, 3, p Appearance dark gray, bluish tinge Atomic mass 28. ... An etched silicon wafer In microelectronics, a wafer is a thin slice of semiconducting material, such as a silicon crystal, upon which microcircuits are constructed by doping (for example, diffusion or ion implantation), etching, and deposition of various materials. ... This article is being considered for deletion in accordance with Wikipedias deletion policy. ...

Bulk micromachining starts with a silicon wafer or other substrate and selectively etches into it, using photolithography to transfer a pattern from a mask to the surface. Like surface micromachining, bulk micromachining can be performed with wet or dry etches, although the most common etch in silicon is the anisotropic wet etch. This etch takes advantage of the fact that silicon has a crystal structure, which means its atoms are all arranged periodically in lines and planes. Certain planes have weaker bonds and are more susceptible to etching. The etch results in pits that have angled walls, with the angle being a function of the crystal orientation of the substrate. This type of etching is inexpensive and is generally used in early and low-budget research. Photolithography is a process used in semiconductor device fabrication to transfer a pattern from a photomask (also called reticle) to the surface of a substrate. ... Quartz crystal A crystal is a solid in which the constituent atoms, molecules, or ions are packed in a regularly ordered, repeating pattern extending in all three spatial dimensions. ...