Patent ID: 9656859
Date: 2017-05-23
CPC Classifications: B81C

Claim:
1. A method for fabricating a suspended MEMS structure, comprising: providing a substrate comprising a single-crystal material; epitaxially growing a sacrificial release layer comprising a transition metal nitride (TMN) material on an upper surface of the substrate to form an epitaxial TMN sacrificial release layer; epitaxially growing a functional device layer comprising a Group III-Nitride material or SiC on an upper surface of the TMN sacrificial release layer, patterning a portion of the functional device layer to define an outline of a suspended MEMS structure to be formed from a defined portion of the functional device layer; in a first etching step, etching the patterned portion of the functional device layer to form one or more windows in the functional device layer and to further define the outline of the suspended MEMS structure; and in a second etching step, using a selective release agent, etching the epitaxial TMN sacrificial release layer to remove the epitaxial TMN sacrificial release layer from underneath the defined portion of the functional device layer to form the suspended MEMS structure.