A new metal surface micromachining technology utilizing 3-D lithography, electroplating, and mechanical polishing has been developed to fabricate various 3-D metal microstructures especially for RF and microwave MEMS applications.

Figure 1. (a) Schematic view of the 3-D photoresist mold for a suspended spiral inductor (b) Final electroplated structure

Figure 2. Fabrication process flow (cross-section in Figure 1a)

Figure 3. SEM pictures of fabricated RF MEMS components: Spiral inductors suspended by (a) 50mm (b) 100mm.

Figure 4. SEM pictures of the fabricated microwave MEMS components (a) transmission lines (b) a coaxial line.