New fabrication procedures ate described for constructing thin, electrostatically deflectable SiO <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</inf> membranes on a silicon wafer in a very controllable manner. Performance parameters of these membranes are analyzed and three examples of typical applications for the micromechanical structures are discussed: a light modulator array, a micromechanical voltage-controlled switch, and the measurement of the mechanical properties of thin insulating films unconstrained by the substrate. Since the lifetimes of the membranes can be very long (>10 10 cycles), their dimensions very small (8.3 µm long, 950 Å thick have been demonstrated), and the fabrication technique is simple and versatile, the potential applicability of such devices seems promising.
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K. Petersen (1978) studied this question.