Due to the small size of structures in modern microdevices, surface forces can create undersirable adhesion between microstructures, which is referred to as stiction. Stiction occurs when microdevices are dried after liquid procesing steps, like the removal of a sacrificial layers, or during operation. A recent study used a Nd:YAG, 1064 mm laser to successfully recover polycrystalline silicon microscantilevers which had failed whle being dried. This investigation further examines the recovery of stiction-failed microstructures sing a Nd:YAG laser and determines the influence of sample age at the time of laser irradiation of the process. The experimental results indicate that increasing the amount of time the microstructures are stuck before irradiation usually decreases the ability to repair stiction-failed devices. Thuse, the present study supports the hypothesis that the adhesion strength between a stiction-failed microstructure and the underlying substrate increases with time.
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