Fabrication of arrays of carbon micro- and nanostructures via electrochemical etching

New methods to pattern and etch a variety of materials are proving to be extremely important owing to the broad impact of microfabrication technology on chemistry and biology. A method, for etching graphitic carbon materials that opens pathways for the creation of arrays of carbon structures, has been developed. The method involves standard photolithographic pattern transfers to a thin carbon film and anodisation of the exposed carbon substrate in basic electrolytes. Structures of various shapes can be fabricated that range in size from tens of microns to submicrons. Arrays of these structures can be fabricated over areas encompassing hundreds of microns with low failure rates. The shape, size and distance between array objects are easily controlled by the fabrication procedure. Scanning electron microscopy is used to visualise the various structures fabricated. The authors show that this technology is useful for the fabrication of microelectrode arrays.