Micro-miniature structures and method of fabrication thereof

A method for fabricating methods having a substrate material and a free standing metallic structure positioned above the substrate, said structure being formed by the steps of:

• selecting a substrate material;
• depositing on the substrate material a sacrificial layer of material;
• patterning the sacrificial layer to define a shape;
• depositing on the sacrificial layer a photoresist layer of material;
• patterning the photoresist layer by contrast-enhanced photolithography to form a photoresist mold having one or more substantially vertical sidewalls, including masking the photoresist layer and exposing unmasked portions of the photoresist layer using a source of collimated radiation having a wavelength of about 365 nanometer, and thereafter photodeveloping the photoresist layer to remove the unmasked portions of the photoresist layer;
• electro-plating a metallic layer of material on the photoresist mold, said photoresist layer being patterned to provide a free standing metallic structure having an aspect ratio of at least 9:1;
• and
• dissolving the photoresist mold and the sacrificial layer using etchants to form a free standing metallic structure.

A method for fabricating miniaturized structures having a substrate material and a free standing metallic structure positioned above the substrate, said structure being formed by the steps of:

• selecting a substrate material;
• depositing on the substrate material a sacrificial layer of material;
• patterning the sacrificial layer to define a shape;
• depositing on the sacrificial layer a photoresist layer of material;
• patterning the photoresist layer by contrast-enhanced photolithography to form a photoresist mold;
• plating a metallic layer of material on the photoresist mold, said photoresist layer being patterned to provide a free standing structure having an aspect ratio of at least 9:1 and a vertical thickness between about 2-20 micrometers;
• and
• dissolving the photoresist mold and the sacrificial layer using etchants to form a free standing metallic structure.