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Recently, techniques known as 'micro-origami' or 'strain architecture' have emerged for the fabrication of out-of-plane micro-and nanostructures by relaxation of a pair of strain-mismatched thin films. Applications of such structures include optical reflectors, actuators and micropositioners. We illustrate how control of the folding order can generate complex three-dimensional objects from metal-oxide bilayers using this approach. By relying on the fact that narrower structures are released from the substrate first, it is possible to create multi-axis loops and interlinked objects with several sequential release steps, using a single photomask. The structures remain planar until released by XeF 2 dry silicon etching, making it possible to integrate them with other MEMS and microelectronic devices early in the process.

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Material and process effects on line-edge-roughness of photoresists probed with a fast stochastic lithography simulator J.This article introduces a scanning probe lithography technique in which ultracompliant thermal probes are used in the selective thermochemical patterning of commercially available photoresist. The micromachined single-probe and multiprobe arrays include a thin-film metal resistive heater and sensor sandwiched between two layers of polyimide. The low spring constant ͑Ͻ0.1 N / m͒ and high thermal isolation provided by the polyimide shank is suitable for contact mode scanning across soft resists without force feedback control. The probes provide what is effectively a spatially localized postexposure bake that crosslinks the photoresist in the desired pattern, rendering it insoluble in developer. For 450-nm-1400-nm-thick AZ5214E (Clariant Corp.), line and dot features with sizes of 450 -1800 nm can be printed using probe powers of 13.5-18 mW, and durations of 1 -60 s per pixel. Variation of feature sizes with process parameters is described.