Fabrication of tungsten microelectrodes using pulsed electrochemical machining

The manufacture of the micro-structure of MEMS (Micro Electro-Mechanical System) becomes more and more important in recent years. Electrochemical micromachining has many advantages over other machining methods. However, a tiny electrode is needed to manufacture the micro-structures. Accordingly, in this study pulsed electrochemical machining is applied to fabricate a cylindrical microelectrode. The influences of working parameters (such as applied voltage, pulsed period, duty factor and temperature) on the fabrication of the microelectrode are discussed. Results also show that cylindrical tungsten microelectrodes with a diameter of 100 μm and various lengths can be fabricated by a linear decay of applied voltage or duty factor.