A novel fabrication technique for free-hanging homogeneous polymeric cantilever waveguides

We present a novel bonding technique developed for the fabrication of a cantilever-based biosensing system with integrated optical read-out. The read-out mechanism is based on single-mode waveguides fabricated monolithically in SU-8. For optimal operation of the read-out mode, the cantilever waveguides should be homogenous and this bonding technique ensures free-hanging cantilevers that are surrounded by the same material for bottom and top claddings. The bonding step is necessary because SU-8 is a negative resist where free-hanging structures cannot be fabricated directly. This paper gives details on the processing aspects and the parameters of the fabrication steps.