Microelectrodes etching

Preparation of Microelectrode Arrays. The microelectrode arrays used in the work were arrays of microelectrodes each 80 pm long, 2.3pm wide and 0.1 pm thick and 3paced 1.7 pm apart. Fabrication and encapsulation of the microelectrode arrays has been described previously.<14.15.21-22) Prior to use, arrays of microelectrodes were cleaned by an rf 02 plasma etch to remove residual photoresist, followed by cycling the potential of each electrode between -1.5 V... 

Ir Ir02 electrodes (commercially available from Cypress Systems, Lawrence, KS) can measure pH in harsh environments or microscopic spaces [S. A. M. Marzouk, Improved Electrodeposited Iridium Oxide pH Sensor Fabricated on Etched Titanium Substrates, Anal. Chem. 2003, 75, 1258 A. N. Bezbaruah and T. C. Zhang, Fabrication of Anodically Electrodeposited Iridium Oxide Film pH Microelectrodes for Microenvironmental Studies, Anal. Chem. 2002, 74. 5726 D. O. Wipf. F. Ge, T. W. Spaine, and J. E. Baur, Microscopic Measurement of pH with Ir02 Microelectrodes, Anal. Chem. 2000, 72, 4921]. For pH measurement in nanoscopic spaces, see X. Zhang,... 

Figure 11.6 Fabrication procedure of an IDA microelectrode. An oxidized silicon wafer (A) is coated with platinum (B). Carbon film is pyrolyzed on it (C). The substrate is coated with photoresist, which is exposed and developed (D) unnecessary portions are then removed by reactive ion etching (E). After removing the photoresist, an Si3N4 layer is deposited on the substrate (G). The substrate is coated with photoresist, which is exposed and developed (H) then the desired shape of the carbon electrode is exposed by reactive-ion etching (I). [Adapted from Ref. 36.]...

Theoretically, electrical patterning is one the simplest method to structure materials since they can be patterned directly on the surface of an electrode. Creating conducting microelectrodes is, nowadays, fast and simple using micro and nanotechnology tools. Deposition and etching, or deposition followed by lift-off, are the conventional methods [35], Other solutions based on electrodeposition of metals... 

Darling, R.B., Yager, P., Weigl, B., Kriebel, J., Mayes, K., Integration of microelectrodes with etched microchannels for in-stream electrochemical analysis. Micro Total Analysis Systems 98, Proceedings pTAS 98 Workshop, Banff, Canada, 13-16 Oct. 1998, 105-108. 

Compared to conventional (macroscopic) electrodes discussed hitherto, microelectrodes are known to possess several unique properties, including reduced IR drop, high mass transport rates and the ability to achieve steady-state conditions. Diamond microelectrodes were first described recently diamond was deposited on a tip of electrochemically etched tungsten wire. The wire is further sealed into glass capillary. The microelectrode has a radius of few pm [150]. Because of a nearly spherical diffusion mode, voltammograms for the microelectrodes in Ru(NHy)63 and Fe(CN)64- solutions are S-shaped, with a limiting current plateau (Fig. 33a), unlike those for macroscopic plane-plate electrodes that exhibit linear diffusion (see e.g. Fig. 18). The electrode function is linear over the micro- and submicromolar concentration ranges (Fig. 33b) [151]. 

For the probing of these microenvironments, appropriately-sized electrochemical sensors and electrodes are necessary, often of nanometre linear dimension, unless they can be incorporated in the walls of the electrochemical cell. By etching, disc microelectrodes with radii of as small as 2 nm have been fabricated [15] nevertheless, problems of interelectrode reproducibility can be large at such miniature electrodes. 

Figures 1IC-E show SEM images of test patterns of silver that were fabricated using pCP with hexadecanethiol, followed by selective chemical etching [102], The SAMs protect the underlying substrates from dissolving by blocking the dilSisional access of etchants. The ability to generate arrays of microstructures of coinage metals with controlled shapes and dimensions is directly useful in fabricating sensors and arrays of microelectrodes.

Microfabrication and micromachining techniques have also been used in the manufacture of electrochemical sensors. This includes po and pco sensors. Zhou et al [9] describe an amperometric CO2 sensor using microfabricated microelectrodes. In this development, silicon-based microfabrication techniques are used, including photolithographic reduction, chemical etching, and thin-film metallization. In Zhou s study, the working electrodes are in the shape of a microdisk, 10 pm in diameter, and are connected in parallel. In recent years, silicon-based microfabrication techniques have been applied to the development of microelectrochemical sensors for blood gases, i.e. P02. Pcoj and pH measurements. 

H)oing-Jun LIM, Young-Mo LIMl, Soo Hyun KIM, Fabrication of arbitrarily shaped microelectrodes by electrochemical etching, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 42 (2003) 1479-1485. 

Fig. 2 Schematic representation of the approaches used to fabricate microelectrode arrays and sensors, (a) Etching (b) liftofl (c) metal masking and (d) screen printing.

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