Boron-rich B-C compounds with high hardness have been recently synthesized by the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method. In this paper, we present our successful efforts in the selective growth of microstructures of boron-carbon compounds on silicon substrates. This was achieved by combining microfabrication techniques such as maskless lithography and sputter deposition with the CVD technique. Our characterization studies on these B-C microstructures showed that they maintain structural and mechanical properties similar to that of their thin-film counterparts. The methodology presented here paves the way for the development of microstructures for microelectromechanical system (MEMS) applications which require custom hardness and strength properties. These hard B-C microstructures are an excellent choice as support structures in MEMS-based devices.
Keywords: MEMS; chemical vapor deposition; maskless lithography; microstructures; nanoindentation; ultrahard materials.