Patent ID: 8596121

Claim:
A structural member made of a silicon substrate comprising: said substrate; a plurality of conductive regions; a plurality of oxidized regions, said plurality of conductive regions being electrically insulated from each other by said oxidized regions, wherein said oxidized regions are connected to each other to form an integrated insulating region between said plurality of conductive regions, wherein each of said plurality of oxidized regions is made of an oxide of said substrate, and formed from an inner surface of a through hole or a trench and grown inside said substrate to contact an oxidized region formed from an inner surface of an adjacent through hole or trench, and wherein each said oxidized region formed from an inner surface of a corresponding through hole or trench and grown inside said substrate to contact an oxidized region formed from an inner surface of an adjacent trench has a thickness that exceeds the thickness of said substrate under a bottom surface of a corresponding through hole or trench.