Electrochemical fabrication of buried folded microchannels into silicon substrates

In this work an original process for buried folded silicon microchannel fabrication is reported. Electrochemical micromachining is exploited to etch high aspect ratio meander-shaped trenches into a silicon substrate. Thermal oxidation is then employed to seal the top of etched trenches and obtain buried microchannels at the bottom. The process is straightforward and allows the integration of buried folded channels into silicon substrates with a high density. Experimental results are reported and advantages and drawbacks of the proposed process are discussed.