Microelectromechanical Systems are easily and safely dried in supercritical carbon dioxide (CO₂)

BASIC THEORY & OPERATION Many Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) are very easily damaged by surface tension.  After MEMS are released from the surface in the final aqueous etching step, drying them in a liquid can destroy the features from the liquid surface tension.  For many MEMS the liquid phase must be entirely avoided to prevent surface tension from destroying the MEMS in the final drying step.  Critical Point Dryers are used in the drying process to remove the liquid from these very fragile parts that would normally be crushed by  surface tension in a normal drying process.  CPD's use supercritical carbon dioxide (CO2) to disolve and displace the liquid in the parts chamber so there is no surface tension when the carbon dioxide is released above the critical point.    MEMS are easily and safely dried with no surface tension damage using the MEMS CPD critical point dryer.