Abstract
The fabrication process of a microparabolic reflector using isotropic xenon difluoride XeF2 etching technique is presented and analysed through this work for developing infrared antenna-coupled detectors. Although many parametric studies described the behaviour of this process in the literature, the non-linearity of the process and its dramatic dependency on the pattern definition result in great difficulties when adopting the process for developing a particular structure. The main focus of this work is, therefore, to present a detailed etching analysis as dictated in the proposed design providing the proper etching recipe according to the proposed structure design and its associated masking pattern. Deep insights into the process have been highlighted suggesting the necessity of the process assessment in terms of evaluating the threedimensional etched volume rather than the etched depth. This will potentially solve the non-linearity behaviour and the pattern dependency problem. The optimum etching recipe yields approximately a total volume of 0.354 mm3 through the proper patterning mask. The resultant parabolic cavities have 75 and 13mm in their diameter and depth, respectively, as required for the proposed structure. The integration of a microparabolic reflector with such detectors will potentially enhance the specific detectivity of these detectors.