Silicon-on-insulator microchannels for biological sensors

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9524900-B2
Application number	US-201414186839-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 21, 2014
Priority date	Mar 7, 2013
Publication date	Dec 20, 2016
Grant date	Dec 20, 2016

Abstract

Novel methods to fabricate biological sensors and electronics are disclosed. A silicon-on-insulator wafer can be employed by etching a pattern of holes in the silicon layer, then a pattern of cavities in the insulating layer, and then sealing the top of the cavities. Further, n or p doped regions and metallic regions can be defined in the processed wafer, thereby enabling integration of biological sensing and electronic capabilities in the same wafer.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
providing a silicon-on-insulator wafer, comprising a first silicon layer, an insulating layer, and a second silicon layer;
defining a pattern of holes in the first silicon layer reaching through to the insulating layer;
defining cavities in the insulating layer at locations corresponding to the holes of the pattern of holes, wherein each cavity respectively has only a single hole; and
depositing a material on top of the cavities or oxidizing the first silicon layer, thereby sealing the top of the cavities and leaving remaining portions of the cavities intact, wherein a top horizontal surface of the material or oxidized first silicon layer is substantially coplanar with a top horizontal surface of the first silicon layer.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the defining a pattern of holes comprises etching holes in the first silicon layer by a Bosch or pseudo Bosch process.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the insulating layer is a silicon oxide layer.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the defining cavities comprises etching the silicon oxide layer with hydrogen fluoride.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the material is a polymer, a metal, or an oxide.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising defining n or p doped semiconductor regions and metallic regions in the silicon-on-insulator wafer.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the n or p doped semiconductor regions and the metallic regions form a biological sensor and associated electronics.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein each cavity of the cavities extends wider than its corresponding single hole.

Assignees

• California Inst Of Techn

Inventors

• Walavalkar Sameer
• Goldberg Mark D
• Scherer Axel

Classifications

• H10W10/011

  of isolation regions comprising dielectric materials · CPC title

• H10W10/10

  Isolation regions comprising dielectric materials · CPC title

• H10W10/181

  Semiconductor-on-insulator [SOI] isolation regions, e.g. buried oxide regions of SOI wafers · CPC title

• H10W10/061

  using SOI processes together with lateral isolation, e.g. combinations of SOI and shallow trench isolations · CPC title

• H10W10/17

  formed using trench refilling with dielectric materials, e.g. shallow trench isolations · CPC title