Three-dimensional electrochemical structuring of silicon at the nano- and micro-scale for (nano)medicine and (bio)sensing applications

Since the famous talk of R. Feynman in 1959 “There is plenty of room at the bottom”, silicon nano and microstructuring technologies have been continuously developed with the ambition of sculpting silicon at the nano and microscale, thus pushing silicon towards novel research topics and market opportunities beyond the Moore law, a trend also known as More Than Moore. As a result, silicon nanomicroelectromechanical systems (NMEMS) (e.g. pressure sensors, accelerometers, gyroscopes) are nowadays part of (almost) any modern devices (e.g. mobile phones, cars, videogames) of everyday life. On the other hand, lab-on-a-chip systems integrating a multitude of micrometer-sized components on a silicon chip (e.g. microneedles, microchannels and valves, biosensors) are on the way and do envisage to radically transform clinical diagnostics and medicine. In this lecture, advanced nano and microstructuring of silicon via electrochemical etching technology will be presented and discussed with emphasis on the fabrication of nanodevices and microsystems for (nano)medicine to (bio)sensing