Patent ID: 7351603

Claim:
A process of fabricating a micromachined tube for fluid flow therethrough, the process comprising the steps of: providing a first material having a thickness throughout which the first material is substantially uniformly doped; etching a channel in a first portion of the first material in a direction of the thickness thereof, the channel extending through more than half but not entirely through the thickness of the first material, the channel being between second and third portions of the first material; bonding the first material to a second material so that a first portion of the second material overlies the first portion of the first material and encloses the channel therein to define a passage, and so that second and third portions of the second material overlie the second and third portions of the first material; removing the second and third portions of the second material and some but not all of the second and third portions of the first material underlying the second and third portions of the second material, such that the first portions of the first and second materials define a protrusion; bonding the first portion of the second material to a substrate adjacent a recess in a surface of the substrate such that a portion of the passage projects over the recess; and then removing the second and third portions of the first material such that the first portion of the first material and the passage therein define a tube, a freestanding portion of the tube projecting over the recess in the substrate so as to be capable of movement relative thereto.