In the structure of microstructure technology

Abstract: This thesis brings together multiply faceted work within the field of microstructure technology. The different facets contribute to the field in various ways; thereby making an example of the structure of the technology brought forward in the summary. First, the field of microstructure technology is contextually identifled: "By 'microstructure technology' I mean the processing and application of structures that look man-made and that have a shape that ought to be imaged using a scanning electron microscope." The actions taken to perform microstructure technology is then discussed as a structure considered in five parts: the learning about the material, the working of the material, the giving of a shape, the relating of cause and action, and finally the attaching of names to the things.Among the papers included in this thesis are studies on thedevelopment of a process to establish the precise crystallographicdirections of silicon and indium phosphide which is of importance for high precision micromachining. The nature of the phenomenological etching behaviour of near (111) faces of silicon in KOH solutions is investigated in detail in order to help even higher precision of wet chemical etching. The shortcomings of existing simulators to model the etch behaviour is exemplified by the demonstration of a new class of vertical corner compensations. Work has also been directed towards microsystems. A micromechanical snap-in structure is both analyticallymodelled in detail and also demonstrated as a fabricated device. Finally, another light steering device, a scanning mirror, is demonstrated for the use in head mounted display systems.