Process for forming a porous silicon member in a crystalline silicon member
First Claim
1. A process for forming a porous silicon membrane in a crystalline silicon member, comprising:
- masking at least a section of the silicon member,patterning an open area in the masked silicon member to expose the crystalline there under;
electrochemical etching of the exposed crystalline silicon to form pores therein for forming the porous silicon membrane; and
forming a means in the crystalline member selected from the group consisting of heater means and electrode means.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Fabrication and use of porous silicon structures to increase surface area of heated reaction chambers, electrophoresis devices, and thermopneumatic sensor-actuators, chemical preconcentrates, and filtering or control flow devices. In particular, such high surface area or specific pore size porous silicon structures will be useful in significantly augmenting the adsorption, vaporization, desorption, condensation and flow of liquids and gasses in applications that use such processes on a miniature scale. Examples that will benefit from a high surface area, porous silicon structure include sample preconcentrators that are designed to adsorb and subsequently desorb specific chemical species from a sample background; chemical reaction chambers with enhanced surface reaction rates; and sensor-actuator chamber devices with increased pressure for thermopneumatic actuation of integrated membranes. Examples that benefit from specific pore sized porous silicon are chemical/biological filters and thermally-activated flow devices with active or adjacent surfaces such as electrodes or heaters.
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Citations
9 Claims
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1. A process for forming a porous silicon membrane in a crystalline silicon member, comprising:
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masking at least a section of the silicon member, patterning an open area in the masked silicon member to expose the crystalline there under; electrochemical etching of the exposed crystalline silicon to form pores therein for forming the porous silicon membrane; and forming a means in the crystalline member selected from the group consisting of heater means and electrode means. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A process for forming a porous silicon membrane in a crystalline silicon member, comprising:
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masking at least a section of the silicon member, patterning an open area in the masked silicon member to expose the crystalline silicon there under; the masking and patterning of the crystalline silicon member being carried out to define a plurality of spaced exposed sections of the crystalline silicon member; electrochemical etching of the exposed crystalline silicon to form pores therein for forming the porous silicon membrane; the etching being carried out to form a plurality of porous spaced microchannels in the crystalline silicon member; and providing the plurality of spaced microchannels with a heater means to form a plurality of reaction chambers. - View Dependent Claims (9)
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Specification