Fabrication of air bridge structures via electrochemical plating and RF magnetron sputtering deposition

Abstract

Air bridges are indispensable structures in microelectro-mechanical systems (MEMS) because they provide high speed interconnects by reducing the stray capacitances. In this paper, we report a novel method employing photolithography to define the structure prior to sputtering metallization. The photolithography process was also tested using the electrochemical plating (ECP) set-up of the Condensed Matter Physics Laboratory. SEM results show the success of developing air bridges using the aforementioned methods.